STEM Education

Guest: Roger Lenard. Topics: Space Solar Power, tethers, beaming energy from space, military needs for SSP, tethers. Roger Lenard, president of Heliosat, Inc. was our guest for this show. We began our discussion with Roger talking about SSP and the unique approach of Heliosat, Inc. in bringing SSP to fruition. Listen to his plan and objectives and see what you think. We talked about the use of tethers to boost the satellites from LEO to GEO. We also talked about low cost launch options which seem promising. You will not want to miss this discussion.

Guests: Nancy Conrad and Joshua Neubert. Topics: Conrad Foundation Awards, Pete Conrad, disruptive educational technolgy, interdisciplinary educational programs, high school student projects, entrepreneurship, venture capital, building human capital. Our guests, Nancy Conrad and Josh Neubert, brought us up to date with the Conrad Awards which will be announced at the Innovation Generation Summit at the NASA Ames Conference Center from April 2-4, 2009.

Guest: Guenter Wendt. Topics: Flight crew safety, space tourism, Shuttle, Ares 1 & 5, safety checklists, STEM education, technical training & items. Guenter Wendt was our guest today to talk about the new release of the paperback version of his book published by Apogee, "The Unbroken Chain." As Mr. Wendt was the man in charge of flight crew safety for all manned missions, he outlined safety protocols, what was involved in maintaining safety, and the use of lists detailing credible events that could happen and then what they would do if one of those things did happen.

Guest: Dr. Neville Marzwell. Topics: Space Solar Power, power beaming, leadership, public & private sector risk buy down, Elon Musk, electric cars. Dr. Neville Marzwell was the guest for this Space Show program to discuss his Space Solar Power (SSP) presentation from the December 2008 ATWG Conference. Dr. Marzwell's power point presentation, "The Technical Challenges for Space Solar Power" can be sent to you upon receiving your request. It’s 20 MB so to send it, I will need to use a large file transfer service, so let me know if you would like a copy of this PowerPoint.

Guests: First Hour: Bob Dickman and Dr. Paul Nielsen. Second Hour: Open Lines Bob Dickman, Executive Director of AIAA, and Dr. Paul Nielsen, Director & CEO of SEI, were the guests today for the first hour to discuss the upcoming AIAA 47th Aerospace Sciences Meeting including The New Horizons Forum & Aerospace Exposition in Orlando, Florida from January 5-8, 2009. In talking with Bob Dickman and Dr.

Guest: Jerry Carr was the guest for this Space Show program. The basis for our discussion was his biography published by Apogee, "Around The World in 84 Days: The Authorized Biography of Skylab Astronaut Jerry Carr." The author for this authorized biography was David Shayler. Naturally, much of our discussion focused on Skylab and his mission, Skylab 4. One of the early discussion topics was the Skylab 4 workload strike which has become notorious. Jerry explained it in detail and how it got blown out of proportion by a journalist. You will definitely want to hear this discussion.

Guest: Dr. Barrett Caldwell was the guest for this special Space Show program. We started our discussion by asking him about Space Grant Indiana and the national NASA space grant program, such as the projects and scholarships that Space Grant funds. This is a very informative discussion and it is applicable to Space Grant in other states as well though we did discuss specific Indiana programs. Clearly, there are advantages for students to associate with a Space Grant program, listen and you will understand why I say this.

Guest: Norman J. Gerstein was the guest for this special Space Show program. Mr. Gerstein was deeply involved in Rover/NERVA and we discussed these programs in detail. He was part of the KIWI-TNT team and involved in the cleanup by picking up the debris with a wheelbarrow and tongs. Norm described these programs in detail along with the nuclear rocket which we compared to chemical rockets. Norm made it very clear that one needs a mission to do these programs. Another way of saying it, is to make sure there is a need. Since there was no need (no mission), the programs were cancelled.

Guests: David Webb and David Whalen (first hour) and Bob Werb (second hour) were our guests for this final combined episode of the Space Show television program filmed on location in Cape Canaveral Florida. David Webb was the first department chair of Space Studies at the University of North Dakota and then became the first Chairman of the Board of Trustees at the International Space University (ISU). Dr. Webb's role was crucial and fundamental leading up to the creation of ISU, and to the ISU Founders, Dr.

Guests: Diane Murphy, VP of Marketing and Communications, and Max Vozoff, Senior Mission Manager, both for SpaceX, were the guests for the first segment of this AIAA Space 2008 program in San Diego, CA. We start this first segment talking with Diane about the new developments with SpaceX and her joining the company as VP of Marketing and Communications. We then turned our focus to Max to talk with us about Falcon 1, Falcon 9, Dragon, and COTS. Max answered many technical questions and provided us with much information.