Guests: Dr. John Jurist, Kobi Hudson. Topics: Orbital ATK 5 segment booster test and the ISS Algae experiment. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information. In addition, please remember that your Amazon purchases can help support The Space Show/OGLF. See www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm. For those listening to archives using live365.com and rating the programs, please email me as to why you assign a specific rating to the show. This will help me bring better programming to the audience. We welcomed Dr. John Jurist and Kobi Hudson to the program to discuss their recent experiences at the Orbital ATK 5 segment booster test in Utah and the ISS algae experiment Kobi and his teammates are working on at this time. During the first segment of our 1 hour 58 minute discussion, John and Kobi talked about viewing the Orbital ATK 5 segment booster test this past March in Utah. John has attended all the 5 segment booster tests but this was the first one for Kobi who is one of John's students at Rocky Mountain College in Billings, MT. Kobi described the test, what it looked like and how it felt from the viewing area, the networking opportunities he had with those attending the test including many executives from across our aerospace industry & NASA. I asked John and Kobi if they sensed that the Orbital ATK team was aware of the controversy surrounding the final destination for the booster, SLS. We talked about this for several minutes. I think you will find what both John and Kobi had to say about this to be very interesting. This discussion took us into an SLS discussion but from a slightly different perspective than our usual Space Show SLS discussions. A listener asked our guests if either of them noticed a cultural difference in the test team given the Orbital and ATK merger. Kobi was asked if the test and the experience inspired him to want to work in the aerospace field which it did. In the second segment, Marshall called to inquire about the use of liquid rocket motors as compared to solids and wanted to know which type was more efficient. Both John and Marshall seemed to agree that it might depend on which type of propulsion system gets more launches and usage though the solids are far simpler. As part of this discussion, the political dimensions of decision making were brought up as they play a role in the propulsion system and thus influence efficiencies. Next, we turned to Kobi to explain to us the algae experiment he and others are working and which will fly to the ISS on the SpaceX 7 launch. Behind this experiment is the goal of testing how well algae grows and how much carbon dioxide it consumes in a zero-gravity environment. They want to see if it can influence the presence of oxygen in the spaceship. The algae is grown in an agar solid media. Kobi went into details on this experiment which I believe you will find of interest. When the team gets the data back from the 28 day test, Kobi will come back to the show to update us on what they found out. Later in the segment, SLS John called in to follow up on our earlier SLS conversation and the proposed NASA ARM. Several listener questions came in by email regarding both the issue of solids vs. liquids and the algae experiment. Kobi also got a question or two about this work on the Firebird cubesat program. He said it used a polar orbit , was then asked if cubesats could go to the Moon or elsewhere and he said probably but challenging. Doug called to talk closed loop life support and related issues. The last question came from a high school senior asking Kobi about the need to attend a Tier One school and the consequences for going to a school not as well known and not as highly ranked. All three of us, Kobi, myself, and John responded to this question saying about the same thing but in different words. Both John and Kobi offered concluding comments you don't want to miss. Please post your comments and questions on TSS blog above. You can reach both guests through me.
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