tethers

Guest: Dr. Robert Zubrin. Topics: Goals and vision for space program, Augustine Commission. Dr. Robert Zubrin returned for this Space Show program to provide us with his assessment of the Augustine Commission's report and to put in context his goals and vision for our space program. In our first segment, Dr. Zubrin said that the Augustine Commission failed by not presenting a plan of action . Our entire segment was devoted to this discussion as was much of our program. Heavy lift was brought up and he said we would go nowhere in space without it.

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.

Guest: Dr. Pete Worden for the first hour followed by Open Lines. Topics: Space Solar Power (SSP), NASA Ames Research Center. Dr. Pete Worden, Center Director for the NASA Ames Research Center, was the guest for the first hour of the show. The last segment was an Open Lines discussion primarily geared to our space solar power discussion with Dr. Worden. Our discussion with Dr. Worden followed the business case discussion on SSP stemming from the debate at the ATWG Conference in early December 2008 at Ames. During that debate, Dr.

Guests: Dr. Bryan Laubscher and Dr. Martin Lades were guests for today's Space Show to discuss the space elevator and the upcoming space elevator conference (www.spaceelevatorconference.org). We started our discussion with the basics of the space elevator concept and why at this point in time convergence is necessary for the space elevator's development. Our two guests covered these issues in some detail and then more when listeners starting asking about why we need a space elevator.

Dr. Robert Hoyt was the guest for this Space Show program. We began the interview with Dr. Hoyt telling us the basics about tethers. Tethers are either momentum exchange tethers or electrodynamics propulsion tethers working with Lorentz force interactions and the Earth's magnetic field. Dr. Hoyt then described these types of tethers in greater detail and the type of applications for each tether. In response to a listener question, he talked about being able to use tethers to move the ISS to another orbit though it would take about 18-24 months.