Space debris

Guests: Dr. Roger Launius, Andrew Johnston. Topics: space exploration, geography, Hubble, human spaceflight. Dr. Roger Launius and Andrew Johnston were the guests for this Space Show program to discuss their excellent new book, "Atlas of Space Exploration." You can find out more about this book from the One Giant Leap Foundation book website, www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/books.htm. We started our discussion by talking about ancient observatories and then observation versus exploration.

Guest: Rusty Schweickart. Topics: Planetary defense, Near Earth Objects (NEO). Former astronaut Rusty Schweickart returned to The Space Show today to update us on what is happening with efforts to develop and deploy a planetary protection policy for NEOs. Two websites you should visit for more information on this subject and to follow along with Mr. Schweickart are the Association of Space Explorers (http://www.space-explorers.org/ ) and the B612 Foundation (http://www.b612foundation.org/).

Guest: Professor Ram Jakhu. Topics: National and international space law, space debris, space tourism, civil space, military space, SSP. Professor Ram Jakhu, Associate Professor at the Institute of Air and Space Law at McGill University in Montreal, Canada was our guest today. We began our discussion by addressing the space debris issue and the recent International Interdisciplinary Congress on Space Debris held at McGill University in Montreal from May 7-9, 2009.

Guest: Dr. Frans G. von der Dunk. Topics: space & telecom law programs, space tourism, NEO's, ITAR, space debris. First, I apologize for my rough and raspy voice as I am still recovering my cold, coughing, and virus whatever. Thanks for your patience and tolerance. Our guest tonight, Dr. Frans von der Dunk, started our discussion by describing the new University of Nebraska - Lincoln LL.M Space and Telecommunication Law program (please see http://law.uni.edu/spacelaw).

Guest: Stephen E. Doyle, Atty. Topics: Space law, space property rights, space traffic management, liability, space debris, space tourism, and much more. Stephen Doyle was our guest for today's Space Show program to discuss various aspects of space law. As it turned out, this was a very comprehensive discussion on a variety of space law issues including space traffic management, space tourism, liability issues, space property rights, the Outer Space Treaty, international contributors to space law, and so very much more. I recommend this as a must hear program.

Theresa Hitchens, Executive Director of the World Security Institute's Center for Defense Information, was the guest for this Space Show program. We started our interview by asking Ms. Hitchens about the recent U.S. shoot-down of its ailing satellite and considering this event from the perspective on U.S. space policy and how others around the world see us as a nation. Don't miss this important discussion. We then discussed U.S. space policy now and for the future by looking at space weapons, ASAT policy, national defense, budgets, and more. Ms.