Guest: Dave Reneke. Topics: Space in Australia, a different view of U.S. space policy, astronomy, SETI. You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. The Space Show/OGLF is now engaged in its annual fundraising drive. Please see & act upon our appeal at http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com/2011/11/21/space-show-2011-fundraisin…. We welcomed Dave Reneke to the program to discuss all space issues from the Australian perspective. Find out more about Dave, his space and astronomy work, plus sign up for his free newsletter at www.davidreneke.com. Starting out, I asked our guest about the Perth radio telescope used by ESA that seems to be the only location making some contact with the Russian Phobos-Grunt mission. After talking about Perth and its geography, our guest mentioned the competition for the Square Kilometer Array Telescope (SKA) competition which has been narrowed down to the Australian location or a location in S. Africa. Dave mentioned the SKA telescope and its capabilities throughout our discussion. As we learned, the Perth area is actually quite quiet regarding radio noise and a good location for the radio telescope array. Dave received email questions about the space awareness level of the average Australian as well as for his students. Having been to the U.S. several times, our guest said that there was not much difference between Australians and Americans when it comes to space awareness and knowledge. We also talked about commercial space, space tourism, and our current American space policy. Josh asked about the difference in the night sky from the southern hemisphere view as compared to what most of us see here in the northern hemisphere. Dave gave us some good comparison notes which I think you will find interesting, especially about the Southern Cross, some of the planets, the Big Dipper, Orion (the Swordsman in Australia), and even the Milky Way. We talked about national television coverage in Australia of the recent MSL launch, and then some more about issues facing the U.S. space policy of today. In our second segment, Dave got a listener question about Australian concern and coverage for space debris falling to Earth and he reminded us about Skylab coming down in Australia and told us some interesting stories about it. I asked him about the Air Force UFO article on his website. He had much to say about it and his previous work as a UFO investigator. We then switched to talking about deep space, Pioneer 10, and SETI searches. We mentioned the potential water planet discovery, Gliese 586g, and much more. Dave was asked when the effects of our sun cease and a deep space mission starts having effects from a different solar system or from being in deep space. Dave talked about a region of turbulence hitting Pioneer 10 and suggested deep space really starts when our solar system effects end. He referenced the heliosheath. We also talked about the Voyager Interstellar Mission. Dave told us a few stories about Apollo 11 that he learned from his day long meeting with Buzz. He concluded with a long term hundred year vision suggesting that eventually there will be travel beyond the speed of light with routine space travel. Post your comments/questions on the blog URL above. Dave can be contacted through the Contacts page on his website.
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