The Space Show

The Space Show hosted a discussion with Dr. Saralyn Mark, focusing on space medicine, human spaceflight, and the challenges of long-duration space travel. The conversation covered topics such as the impact of space on human health, advancements in space technology, and the potential for space research to benefit medical treatments on Earth. Dr. Mark emphasized the importance of international collaboration, ethical considerations, and continued funding for space exploration to address challenges and unlock new possibilities for human health and space colonization. See the full summary at both www.thespaceshow.com for this program and the same on our Substack page, doctorspace.substack.com.

Summary is upcoming

John and I welcomed Dr. Enrique Gaztanaga who is at the Portsmouth University, in the UK. The professor proposes an alternative theory of the universe to the established Big Bang theory. Since the JWST has been on line, problems with the Big Bang have been detected with our guest at the lead in proposing his alternative theory which is still under investigation. While listening to this two part program, visit Professor Gaztanaga's excellent website for more detail and a listing of his published articles. See https://darkcosmos.com. You can also read his new publshed paper in In a new paper just published in Physical Review D. Briefly and from his website, "the Big Bang was not the start of everything, but rather the outcome of a gravitational collapse that formed a very massive black hole — followed by a bounce inside. This idea — which we call the Black Hole Universe — offers a radically different view of cosmic origins, yet it is grounded entirely in known physics and observations." Listen to his discussion and check out his papers and more on his theory. I am sure Enrique will be back to Hotel Mars and to The Space Show many times over in the future.

Dr. Robert Bishop of Texas A&M was welcomed to the program to discuss and cover a range of topics related to space exploration, technology, and education, with a focus on Texas A&M University's involvement in these areas. Discussions included technical issues, SpaceX developments, radio show logistics, and the structure of Texas A&M's engineering programs, particularly their new space engineering initiative and research partnerships. The conversation also touched on broader themes such as national security, commercial space activities, and ethical considerations in space exploration, highlighting the interdisciplinary nature of current and future space endeavors.

Summary forthcoming

John and I welcomed back to Hotel Mars Eric Berger of Ars Technica for a one segment update and discussion regarding SpaceX, Musk & Starship. Eric was asked what the SpaceX testing success of Starship would look like. Our guest said he did not know. We talked about the upcoming Demo Test #10, possible hardware issues and even the possibility of assembly issues. Our guest expanded on this part of our conversation. Starship and the planned Moon launch were mentioned, we talked about testing ins LEO and the need to develop and test fueling in LEO. Eric also mentioned the fuels that Starship would use and need testing concerning possible boil off and more. Before ending the segment, he was asked about the feud between Musk and President Trump. Eric said it was hard to predict but probably Musk would walk back some of what he said regarding President Trump. He pointed out how important SpaceX was to the government on both space and national security. While the FAA could slow walk permits in retaliation for some of what Musk said, he did not see that happening at this time.

We welcomed Dave Barnhart, CEO and Co-founder of Arkisys, Inc., back to the program to share updates since his last appearance on May 2, 2023. The conversation focused on developments in the growing field of space servicing and the evolving commercial space industry. Dave provided a comprehensive update on Arkisys's Port project, highlighting increased interest from the U.S. Space Force, the Space Development Agency, and other key government and private stakeholders. He discussed concepts such as deorbit augmentation and post-launch integration, offering specific examples of potential business opportunities emerging from these efforts. R&D and funding were key parts of the discussion. Dave explained how Arkisys is reducing risk through terrestrial experimentation, with a strong emphasis on rendezvous and transport capabilities via their Cutter vehicle. Listener questions focused on space logistics, satellite servicing markets, and the economic implications of declining launch costs. Dave noted that as launch prices continue to fall, the economics of on-orbit servicing become significantly more challenging and competitive. Later in the program, Dave introduced two major industry consortiums: COSMIC, a U.S.-only initiative, and CONFERS, which has a global scope despite being based in the U.S. He emphasized the importance of establishing industry norms and standards—an area of growing importance as the space economy matures. As the discussion wrapped up, Dave outlined Arkisys's five-year plan, which includes deploying up to three Port modules, potentially connected, along with using the Cutter vehicle to ferry payloads to and from the Port. While human spaceflight is not currently part of their roadmap, he expressed interest in supporting human spaceflight companies with the Port platform in the future. Dave also addressed the use of AI in Arkisys operations—be sure to catch his insights on that topic. Before concluding, he shared updates on internships and future hiring plans. Earlier in the conversation, he enthusiastically described Arkisys's mentorship of student teams focused on in-space construction, noting a significant year-over-year increase in participation, underscoring growing interest in this sector.

I introduced Marcus Chown, an award-winning writer and former radio astronomer at Caltech, to discuss his latest book "A Crack in Everything: How Black Holes Came in from the Cold and Took Cosmic Center Stage." Marcus shared his personal journey into astronomy, inspired by his father's gift of an astronomy book and witnessing the moon landing as a child. He discussed the evolution of black hole science, explaining how they were initially considered fictional but became central to understanding the universe. Marcus detailed the discovery of the first black hole in 1971 and its connection to Cygnus X-1, a binary star system where a giant star is being pulled into a black hole, emitting X-rays. He also explained how supermassive black holes were discovered before stellar mass black holes, with the Hubble Space Telescope revealing their prevalence in galaxies. Marcus clarified that light from black holes does not escape from within but is emitted by matter swirling around them before falling in. Much more was discussed during this 77 minute listener and guest discussion.

John and I welcomed Casey Dreier from The Planetary Society to the program to go over the proposed NASA space and science budget cuts and project eliminations. Casey suspected the direction for the cuts originated out of OMB without much space guidance or thought. He identified several of the projects and programs identified for either a budget cut such as the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope to the New Horizons and Venus missions being totally eliminated. Casey also talked about the bleak future for SLS and the Gateway for their demise post Artemis 3. Casey talked about their being a shift to commercial Moon missions but with little detail and clarity. Cislunar development, cargo and resupply to the ISS, the future for the private space stations, Mars and EDL for Mars plus demos all were part of our discussion. In Part 2, John talked about the robotic missions including existing missions plus the future missions, all of course depending on robots. Casey worked in commentary about cuts and changes for both JPL and Goddard, two very important and key Nasa centers. Before concluding the program, our guest was asked about the impact of the layoffs for NASA scientists and engineers. Casey suggested they would have an uncertain future ahead of them as their might not be abundant job opportunities for these important skills. Read the full summary at The Space Show website, www.thespaceshow.com and also at doctorspace.substack.com.

We welcomed Jim Meigs from the Manhattan Institute to the program to discuss his paper, "U.S. Space Policy: The Next Frontier", space news including a changed in the proposed NASA Administrator plus the argument with President Trump and Elon Musk. The meeting considered the potential impact of the dispute and administrator change on space policy and projects, including NASA's future leadership and priorities. Jim, along with program participants on both Zoom and the live stream explored various challenges and uncertainties surrounding NASA's human space program, including budget concerns, mission timelines, and the need for private sector involvement. The group also discussed potential alternatives for U.S. space exploration, including more collaboration between different commercial space companies, while addressing the ongoing feud between Trump and Musk. Programs such as Artemis, Starship, timelines, even the need to restructure the FAA for both aviation and space plus NASA as a more entrepreneurial organization were both part of our discussion and Jim's paper. Please read the full summary of this program on The Space Show archives and our Substack page, doctorspace.substack.com.

We welcomed Richard Easton, Lee Hammarstrom & Pete Wilhelm to This special 2 hour 16 minute program on Zoom. You should be able to see the video on doctorspace.substack.com and The Space Show Vimeo account as it will soon be posted to both accounts. This program on TSS website is audio only. Our discussion focused on the development and evolution of GPS and the PARCAE satellite technologies, along with NRO, NRL, computer tech of the time, covering their origins, technical challenges, and applications. Our guests discussed the historical context, including early proposals, declassification processes, and the interconnected nature of these programs. Understanding time, atomic clocks and even Einstein's relativity equations were crucial to this up to now classified project. The conversation also touched on future developments, potential applications in space exploration, and concerns about system resilience in various environments. We talked innovation "back in the day" along with the Grab, Poppy and the transition from strategic to tactical information. Be sure to read the comprehensive program summary on TSS website as well as our Substack page, doctorspace.substack.com.

Jess Sponable returned to the program to discuss his recent Op-Ed on NASA, aerospace and the defense sectors needing more entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs. While Jess spent time with us explaining what he meant when he and others advocated for more of these folks in management and leadership, most of our program discussion was a mega-example of the need for innovation in R&D, problem solving, financing and such. Over and over again he stressed the need for the entrepreneurial type for leadership, even within the government structure of public organizations or government agencies. Jess used his experiences in the past for excellent supportive illustrations plus he talked about the early 1950's, 60's and 70's history with commercial and military jets, X-planes and flight in general. He focused on motivation while making the point that entrepreneurial type leadership would serve to motivate people. We talked about returning to the Moon, Mars, SpaceX, Musk and Starship as examples along with Starlink. The Golden Dome project was an additional large part of our focus with Jess making a call for it to be space based in design, not terrestrial or Earth-based with Earth-based infrastructure. Jess explained why he said it needed to be space developed but he was not sure this would be the approach taken by Golden Dome planners and designers. We did talk about the degree of protection we would get from Golden Dome plus obvious security gaps that would not have such protection as mentioned by one of our listeners regarding ships and port vulnerability. Dallas called as we were talking about developing a cislunar economic infrastructure plus the Blue Origin designs coming up. Jess mentioned competing rocket companies including Stoke Space, Rocket Lab and Blue as the companies driving down the launch costs which he said was absolutely crucial to get below $100/lb to LEO. Toward the end of the program our guest was asked about progress in human spaceflight medicine. Jess spent a few minutes at the end of the program to go over some the information on this subject and talked about spinning stations and more but we must get the price to LEO down and entrepreneurial leadership was what was needed. Other topics came up including the experience Jess brought to our discussion by his earlier work with DC-X, reusable VTOL Launch, DARPA and the Air Force. Before ending we squeezed in a short discussion on his New Frontier Aerospace company hypersonic flight project which would enable west coast to Asia in a few hours by skimming across the top of the stratosphere. Do not miss this concluding discussion to today's program. Jess said he would return after their demo flight next year. We wish him and our industry great success in moving forward, including handling the political, budget and policy challenges faced at this time. Check out the full summary at www.thespaceshow.com for this program plus the summary on doctorspace.substack.com.

Dan Adamo returned to the program for his Part 2 discussion on "interplanetary Synodic-Resonant Waypoints" for Earth-Mars spaceflight. Follow the discussion with his PDF document which has been uploaded to his first appearance dated May 18, 2025. This second appearance has that link in the blog for the current show. We started Part 2 with a short review of Slide 5 and then proceeded to discuss and review the additional slides in his presentation. Note that this is a somewhat technical discussion and you do need to follow along with his PDF presentation. Rather than review each and every slide as Dan talked about, this summary will focus on the larger picture and that is the purpose or reason behind Dan doing this work which is even as he said many times "very speculative." As I understand it, Dan believes the Earth-Mars waypoints may in the future play an important role in Earth-Mars and return transportation, both human spaceflight and cargo. However, waypoint discussions are not yet being talked about or made part of potential mission planning. Dan is attempting to be "evangelical" in the waypoint discussion to get them into our awareness to start playing a role in the discussions that will influence these future missions. Our guest believes that waypoints are going to be very important in the future but they need to be talked about and evaluated early on to be refined for mission planning. He is hoping and he is optimistic that by bringing waypoints into space travel awareness, additional presentations and evaluations will be offered in the coming years so that they do become part of the future Earth-Mars mission planning and possibly even the missions. Dan is looking for feedback from listeners on waypoints and his presentation. After you have heard his presentation from both Part 1 and Part 2, he wants you to email him with your thoughts or post your thoughts on our blog or Substack as he is monitoring both. His email address is in the bottom footer of each of his slides. If you do direct email Dan, please copy me on the note as I would like to stay in the loop on this subject. Email me at drspace@thespaceshow.com. Dan and I thank you for listening and we look forward to your feedback.

We welcomed Clay Mowry, the new CEO of AIAA, to the program to discuss the "new" AIAA and the health of all aspects of our space industry. We started the 66 minute discussion with a detailed look at the dynamite new AIAA logo and the story about it told by Clay. First, check out the new logo. Visit AIAA.org to see it. Next, listen to Clay's story while you are looking at the new logo. If you are so inclined, post your thoughts about it on our blog for this show or in the Substack comments section (doctorspace.substack.com). By the way, how many of you remember the BellX-1 and its sound breaking history? If not, this would be a good time to learn and seal to your memory this important part of our nation's and really the worlds history. We moved on to talk about the split with AIAA between Aviation and Space. Aviation has always dominated the AIAA but as you will hear, space is becoming a more and more significant part and focus of the organization. Clay was asked about his plans going forward for the organization. In just a few words, AIAA is reaching out to its younger membership, students and going digital with most of their product. Clay told us the story about his trip to many of the nations finest aerospace engineering and science programs to interview the students to get a handle on how to focus the "new" AIAA. After telling us all about what they are doing for student and younger folk retention, a listener asked him what they were doing for the older crowd, even the "geezers." Don't miss this part of the AIAA new outreach program. In addition to the AIAA part of our discussion, Clay was asked about his views on the space economy, the continued availability of investment and risk capital, Artemis, Starship, the SLS-Gateway program and hardware plus Mars and the possible increase in attention to human spaceflight by NASA. We talked about the potential science and other agency budget cuts, we switched over to hear about the new changes and improvements for their great magazine/journal, "Aerospace America." Also, the AIAA book publishing division. He suggested we all sign up for "MyDailyLaunch (see he program to find out. Thank you. Dr. Spacehttps://aiaa.org/news/newsletters/my-daily-launch). Near the end of our program, Clay was asked what his biggest surprise was in becoming the new CEO. Well, its a surprise. Listen to the program to find out. Thank you. Dr. Space.

John and I welcomed DR. Robin Andrews from the UK to discuss planetary defense with us. Robin introduced us to the term "City-Killer" which pertains to the size of an asteroid that could potentially hit and damage Earth. This type of asteroid, were it to hit populated area, could do serious damage and injury to the area of impact. The damage would be considered localized rather than global. Robin provided us with a few examples of such asteroid impacts over history, plus the size of such a rock hitting the Earth would be around 140-160 meters across. Our guest talked about the recent NASA DART mission which sent an ipactor to an asteroid to test if it could be moved, possibly out of the way of hitting Earth. The DART mission was successful. Robin pointed to the U.S. as the main researching entity on such dangerous impacts though he did shout out to ESA and a few other organizations. He was asked about the decision making process to possibly absorb an impact in an area or to evacuate the area, a decision nobody wants to make. Robin was asked questions about rubble pile asteroid along with other kinds of rocks, plus he talked about other potential interceptor missions including nuclear and using the idea of a gravity tractor to tow the asteroid out of the way. Robin supported others in this field by saying the warning time to get involved in defending Earth from an incoming rock was critical as we needed to get to the potential dangerous asteroid when it was still fairly far from Earth. In the second part of our program, John asked Robin what he would do with an unlimited budget for planetary defense. Robin spoke to having infrared observations, testing nuclear interceptors and having rockets and missions on standby if needed bo te used. He commented on existing and soon to be existing hardware that would be useful in the search for the "City-Killer." Vera Rubin was one such tool he mentioned. When asked if a nuclear interceptor might trigger an EMP, he said no because the nuclear explosion would be millions of miles from Earth.

We welcome Coyote Smith back to the program for a wide-ranging discussion that covers the Grissom Space Seminar, the Space Force's 5th anniversary, great power competition in space, and the evolving nature of space warfare. Toward the end of our 65-minute conversation, Coyote also provided an update on space-based solar power. We had multiple listener calls and emails offering thoughtful questions and comments. In our discussion of the Space Force, Coyote offered a quick analysis of the pros and cons of remaining part of the Air Force versus becoming a stand-alone service. Related subtopics included space rescue operations, weapons in space, EMP threats, and the vulnerability of large satellite constellations. We also touched on Artemis, the return to the Moon, and broader plans for the future of space development. You can find more information at www.thespaceshow.com for the episode dated Tuesday, May 20, 2025.

We welcomed Dan Adamo back to the program to discuss his work recently presented to AIAA pertaining to human spaceflight travel between Earth-Mars waypoints. Dan's PDF is on our blog for this specific page. We started by addressing each slide so you need to open the PDF and follow along. For Part 2 in a week, the PDF is must to understand our discussion. In this segment, Dan defined many of the terms & concepts used in his presentation regarding "Interplanetary Synodic-Rosonat Waypoints." Additionally, Dan used the U.S. mature airline industry for potential comparison points for they to be defined potential interplanetary travel system. Dan did disclose that his work was very speculative so keep that in mind during the discussion, especially when we talked timeline and travel times from Earth to Mars. The Moon, lunar habs, development & such were part of our discussion but the focus was on the Synodic-Resonant Waypoints. Dan received multiple email questions along with several calls from listeners. While our program was technical, we were careful to get Dan to explain in "laymen" terms what he was talking about. He also invited more listener questions, especially from the archive listeners, even telling listeners how to direct email him. Many times over, Dan suggested this was a potential interplanetary roadmap plus he wanted it to be part of any future Earth-Mars mission planning. Dan was even asked about waypoints for Earth to Europa in the Jovian system. Don't miss what he said about travel to Europa. Please be sure to listen to Part 2 of this program, 25 May 2025 at noon PDT. Listen the same way you do to all Space Show programs. Thank you.

Dr. Bhavya Lal was our guest for this Friday Space Show program, mainly to discuss her very important Space Review article dated March 17, 2025 and titled "Is the Moon in America' future?" Note that early in the interview, Dr. Lal called our attention to other similarly important Space Review articles which you can easily find her name. I strongly suggest you review them. Not only did we talk about the Moon and why it should be in the U.S., in fact all humanity's future, we talked about Mars, potential NASA science and related budget cuts and more. Bhavya and I had a great but short discussion on just why space science and exploration is important for everyone as we each related personal stories of just how space science positively impacted our lives. Other topics include nuclear power and energy for space, fusion development, national security needs re the Moon and for space in general, and the importance of sooner than later time lines for Artemis and our return to the Moon. Our guest also stressed the need for strategic thinking in space planning, figuring out what should come next & developing alternate/backup plans. This hour plus interview is packed with important wisdom provided by Dr. Lal. We were most fortunate to have her as a guest. For all who hear this program, including policy folks, government mission think men and women, industry, advocates and the general public, really listen to what Dr. Lal shared with us. Thank you.

John and I welcomed Anatoly Zak of RussianSpaceWeb.com to discuss the recently disclosed Soviet era program to explore Venus, the Vener-72 mission. This mission made the current news given the failed Venus probe reentered Earth's atmosphere May 10, 2025 after orbiting Earth for more than 50 years. During this two segment program, Anatoly described the entire Soviet Venus exploration program along with the two probes making up the V-72 mission with one of them failing. This was an exciting and informative walk through both Soviet and planetary exploration history. Don't miss it. For more information about Anatoly and his Russian space news website, visit www.russianspaceweb.com.

Welcome to our ISDC 2025 preview program. Aggie Kobrin & Rod Pyle were with us to let you know what you will experience at this year's ISDC in Orlando. For more info, visit https://isdc.nss.org. Aggie and Rod took us through the list of very exciting speakers and program track participants that you will hear, including the likely next NASA Administrator, Jared Isaacman. Along with the conference schedule, you will have the opportunity to participate in special tours of KSC, the Cape and the great musuem that has one of the few remaining Saturn 5 rockets on full display. There will be a SpaceX band gig to die for, lots of networking opportunities, astronauts to meet plus many awards to those you have heard of but now get the opportunity to meet. If you are into wildlife, just drive around the Cape and see most of it. We fielded several questions about the conference, the schedule, logistics along with the Orlando area. Space Settlement has a great track as does Living in Space with Dr. Bell. AI is strongly represented at this event along with other important topics such as space health, New Space, and more. We talked about the great value of joining the National Space Society (NSS) with membership benefits include the great quarterly print magazine, Ad Astra. For more information on this event, contact our guests or DrSpace @ drspace@thespaceshow.com. Be sure to check our our new Substack page, doctorspace.substack.com.

We welcomed Dr. Jaimie Blok of Cal Tech and JPL to introduce us to and talk about the new SPHEREx space telescope now scanning all of the sky. This is a most interesting two segment discussion about SPHEREX, scan skies, what is being searched for and more. Please read the full summary when available at www.thespaceshow.com for this date, Wednesday, May 7, 2025.

Dr Bae returned to the program to discuss his new book, "Photonic Laser Propulsion" plus he explained the technology, answered many listener questions plus we talked time lines, a general development plan, the Moon, Mars, beamed laser propulsion comparisons, chemical launch rockets, economics and our vision for humanity's future. Dr. Bae started out with a lengthy intro to the book and his photonic laser propulsion work, he used a quote about inspiration from Carl Sagan and much more. Later in the discussion, when he was asked for his plan to get his ideas and work to policy makers and those that develop tech, he thought that would be take up by maybe other governments, interested parties, private funders. He thought his work was complete as a scientist by developing the tech and putting it out there for all in his book. We talked about funding, specifically gov. vs private funding. Also mentioned was human spaceflight, tourism, and settlement. Don't miss how it tech might apply to each of these categories plus timelines for them. Read the full summary of this program when available at www.thespaceshow.com for this date, Friday, May 9, 2025.

Jim Class, well known adventurer and Forbes writer joined us to talk about his adventures, even his almost space adventures. His bio mentions many of exploits but hearing him tell us about them is better than reading about them. For instance, his discussion of the U2 flight and what he had to do re the "space suit" required for U2 flights. He has videos and more on his Forbes website, https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimclash. Read the full summary when available at www.thespaceshow.com for this date, Tuesday, May 6, 2025.

Marc Feldman, co-author of the important new book, "Space Piracy: Preparing for a Criminal Crisis in Orbit," was our guest for this program. Marc did an excellent job talking about software and hardware risks from the ground and space. He talked about the power of cartels in commercial businesses and how they will evolve to space activities. He used many examples, answered listener email and phone questions plus he talked about the Space Force and why they as yet do not have these risks on their view screen. Don't miss the full summary of this program when it appears at www.thespaceshow.com for this date, Sunday, May 4, 2025.

We welcomed both Marc Hon and Avi Shporer from MIT to discuss the lucky discovery of a planet that is rapidly disintegrating nd producing a comet-like tail. The team tells how they discovered this item by looking at images and data from the TESS satellite . During our discussion, we learned that there were other disintegrating planets but that they are rare. According to their data, in another million to two million years the planet will be gone. It is very close to its sun, very hot and 140 light years from Earth. Read the full program summary when available at www.thespaceshow.com for this dated, Wednesday, April 30, 2025.

We welcomed Dr. West to the program to discuss her paper which is on our blog, "Freedom In Outer Space Is At Risk." In addition, we talked about her additional work concerning weapons, nuclear and otherwise and how best to avoid space weaponization. Other topics included space debris, NGOs, China and Russian space goals, the Outer Space Treaty Article One and how best to assure freedom of space for all. We talked about what appears to be a growing contradiction including commercial space and military space. Our questions were by email but to the point. Please post comments, questions or your concerns on our blog for this show. Read the full summary of the program when available at www.thespaceshow.com for this date, Friday, May 2, 2025.

John Hunt returned with news and timeline updates regarding the evolving UAP story. John talked about the different whistleblowers and what they had to say. Since none of them have any hard evidence, just their stories and observations, I kept asking John why we should believe what they had to say. John listed many good reasons why they might be credible. We also talked about government behavior which seems to yell out loudly that there is something to hide and coverup. Otherwise, why would secrecy and classification be such a big thing? Due to some early audio issues that were resolved during the broadcast, we did not have as much audience participation as expected but there were still some good listener questions and comments. John attempted to address my skepticism although I confess that while I know the information and the people mentioned by John, and I do want to believe, I am still a skeptic absent hard evidence. Please read the full summary when available at www.thespaceshow.com for this date, Tuesday, April 29, 2025.

Welcome to our Open Lines discussion covering many topics Note my message for a Drupal 7 expert to assist in maintaining our website. If you are that person or know someone please refer them to me. We talked about the suggested NASA science cuts, the Roman telescope and the size of its mirror. Another topic was the Russian "nuclear" possible satellite that is reported tumbling and out of control. There was much speculation about the purpose of this satellite per the Reuters article. Michael Listner, Atty, called in to help clarify the satellite situation for us. Fremont John called about the space budget plus he uploaded several great documents to the blog for this program. John had additional topics for us that he mentioned. Artemis was a topic as was the FH plan suggested and promoted by Dr. Kothari on many programs and with other formats. We talked about China and their lunar plans plus the possibility we just move on to Mars leaving the Moon for China. Ft. Worth John brought us some of the SLS and Orion issues plus some of the FH constraints were it selected as the return to the Moon architecture. Please read the full summary of the program when it appears at www.thespaceshow.com for this date, Sunday, April 27, 2025.

Ajay was back with us to discuss his approach to returning to the Moon using Falcon Heavy rather than the infrastructure planned for in Artemis. Our guest went through the economics supporting his plan but also the faster timeline which he said would assure us getting back on the Moon before China. In the second half of our program, our guest promoted the use of a Molten Salt Thorium reactor for our power, also in space. He pointed the progress being made on bring thorium power to market in both China and Russia. He talked extensively about the reserves of thorium for the US, China, etc. and the advantages in using Thorium Please read the full summary of the show at www.thespaceshow.com for this program on Wednesday, April 23, 2025.

We welcomed Dr. David Bell, Director of the Research Institute for Advanced Computer Science which is an institute of the parent company, Universities Space Research Association (USRA). Our guest introduced us to USRA, then we discussed its history and some of the history associated with AI and machine learning for space as well as other industries. We talked about ways in which AI has been used in space and is now being used for space exploration, weather analysis with satellites, imaging and more. Quantum computing was an additional part of our discussion, along with the energy needed for AI and quantum. In fact one of our callers inquired about the market for He3 for fuel for quantum. At time Dr. Bell said that AI for space was now routine, going on to tell us what parts of space were routine. Don't miss his commentary. Lots of other topics came up including self-replicating machines, AI for settlement, AI on the Moon and for lunar development, AI to further human spaceflight. Toward the end of our program we talked about global competition and a race for leadership with AI and Quantum. Listen to what our guest had to say about China in this context. Also plasma 3D printing, partnerships and the commercial industry. Please read the full summary of this program when available at www.thespaceshow.com for this date, Friday, April 25, 2025.

Joe Carroll was our guest for updates and discussions about the gravity RX, multi-planetary vs. interplanetary, space exploration versus prepping for space settlelment, robotic development and more. Lots was said about Musk and his plans for humans to Mars questioning his ability to handle life support, the needed human infrastructure and his timelines. We had multiple callers, a few of which were quite lengthy. The same for emails which I read on air. The Mars Moon debate was rehashed, Starship was discussed in detail along with Artemis and SLS Orion plans. Read the full summary when available at www.thespaceshow.com for this date, Tuesday, April 22, 2025.

Laura Montgomery, Atty, was back with us to stress the importance of establishing space property rights for the commercial industry and future plans for space development. She went over laws, regulations, policies and treaties and made a very strong case for property rights. In addition, she suggested how to accomplish with space development and was U.S. laws would be to use as models, precedent and planning. Read the full summary of this program when it appears at www.thespaceshow.com for this day, Wednesday, April 16, 2025.

Bob return for multi-topic discussion ranging from the recent successful Blue Origin all woman suborbital flight to the latest with NASA budget and science cut rumors, Jared Isaacman hearings for NASA Administrator, Starship demos, repairs, Artemis good and bad, possible SLS, Orion and Gateway cuts and much more. Bob spent lots of time with his analysis of the pending Nancy Roman telescope which is rumored to be on the budget cutting list though Bob see the OMB rumored and leaked news as a Trump administration negotiating tactic. Bob talked about the need to clean house regarding costly, overdue and not so necessary NASA and other government projects and continued as he always does to support private commercial everything over government. We talked about the private space station efforts on the part of VAST, cislunar development, and other recent human spaceflight missions Bob said many times that the F9 was approaching airline like operations. For threats to commercial space, he focused in on excessive regulations. Listen to the entire program for all our discussion points. Please read the summary at www.thespaceshow.com when posted at www.thespaceshow.com for this date, Tuesday, April 15, 2025.

Mark was with us today to discuss multiple topics including suggested White House OMB NASA Science budget cuts. We spent the first part of our program going through these suggested cuts with Mark saying he doubted congress would agree to them. He also mentioned that Musk had posted on Twitter that he was not in support of these cuts. Several callers and those sending in emails also did not support the cuts. Other topics included Boeing and NASA on their plans to repair the Starliner, Starship plans, Artemis plans and which Artemis missions might be scrapped when the new Administrator is confirmed. The Senate committee meeting with proposed Administrator Isaacman was a discussion topic along with the potential damage Musk might be doing to space and SpaceX with his politics. Please read the full summary when it is posted at www.thespaceshow.com for this day, Sunday, April 13, 2025.

Chris and Sam talk about the documentary movie made from the recent book authored by Chris, "Alcohol In Space." Our guests had lots to say about the cultural use of alcohol so why would it not be used in space. They also talked about the use of it so far in space though that info was limited. Sam even mentioned it for use after a hard day of work in space because space is challenging and hard. We fielded many listener emails and a few calls. We also talked about the use of alcohol for analog sites along with other unique locations here on Earth. Space Settlement was an issue plus Moon and Mars. During the last part of our program we talked about the upcoming Explore Mars conference May 28-29. Part of that discussion included the three of us talking about how our advocacy has changed over the past twenty plus years and for the most part, we can see doing multiple projects, not being forced into doing just one or the other. Please read the full summary of this program when available at www.thespaceshow.com for this date, Sunday, March 30, 2025

Courtney Stadd was back to discuss his AIAA Aerospace America Feb-March issue article re the U.S. retaining its leadership in space and why that was important. We had quite the vibrant discussion on this topic for a good portion of the program, then we turned to Courtney's ideas around the National Space Council and should it be retained or discontinued with the current administration. For both topics we had multiple email questions and comments. Additionally, we talked about the venture capital investment in space over the last decade, the still lack of markets and industry development, and our guest attempted an answer to the question of why so much money is flowing to uncertainty in terms of customers, markets, experience and such. Do not miss how Courtney responded to these questions. I thought his response was excellent. Before we ended our almost 90 minute discussion, I pointed out what seemed to be a very slow developing human spaceflight industry. Courtney had lots to say about that including the fact that we likely followed the wrong but government influenced track that led to that outcome which he hoped was starting to change, especially as space access become more affordable. Read the full summary of this program when available at www.thespaceshow.com for this date, Friday, March 28, 2025.

John returned to The Space Show to discuss his having used four AI programs to look at the Musk-SpaceX plans for launching supply and humans to Mars between 2030-2050. John wanted to know how many launch sites would be required for the plans Musk has announced to date. During this program, John went through his questions for AI, his assumptions and he he evolved his model. We also disected each of the AI responses. With listener emails and phone calls, this was a thorough discussion but specific to the question John asked the AI with the assumptions he made. All of this was made very transparent on this program. Read the full summary when available at www.thespaceshow.com for this date, Tuesday, March 25, 2025.

Space Atty Camisha Simmons was back with us to both preview her ISDC 2025 upcoming talk and to discuss her recent Space Review article which you can find on our blog. During our discussion, Camisha made a compelling case for congressional clarification regarding property rights per the Commercial Space Act of 2015. Our guest received several phone calls and multiple emails regarding potential legal conflicts once we start resource usage and more in space. Don't miss this program! Please read the full summary when available at www.thespaceshow.com for this date, Sunday, March 23. 2025.

John and I welcomed Dr. Julian de Witt and Dr. Benjamin Rackham to the program for four segments over 36 minutes on an in-depth discussion of the Trappist 1 exoplanet system. This was a highly detailed discussion regarding the sun and all seven planets close together in this system. During the four segments we covered all aspects of the system, the use of the JWST and other preferred imaging devices. how best to research the system going forward and why we want to do that plus we talked about learning about this system means for studying exoplanets and looking for an Earth-like planet and life as we know it. Don't miss the full summary when available at www.thespaceshow.com for this date, Wednesday, March 19, 2025.

Joanne Higgins was with us re her LA Made podcast, The Other Moonshot." Joanne told us the story of three Los Angeles area "unsung heroes" during the Apollo period working for North American on the project in S. California. Our show focused on the stories of Charlie, Nate and Shelby. Not only did we talk about their work on Apollo and the space program but what it was like to be men of color at that time. The story about their discovery that white engineers were paid more than they were paid (they were all engineers with stellar backgrounds and educations) was engaging. Joanne talked about how each one processed that fact and why. For Charlie for example, he was the activist of the group. When asked about their feelings about successfully going to the Moon, well, listen for their reply on that as I will let it surprise you. Our discussion with Joanne had lots of great history, culture and stories so don't miss it. This was a walk through history and we should all know it as I believe it is also important for today's considerations and understandings. Please read the full summary of this program when available at www.thespaceshow.com for this date, March 18, 2025.

Welcome to Open Lines for March 2025. We covered lots of topics but started out with some Space Show scheduling changes plus information regarding the upcoming probable Space Show Zoom on April 6. We covered many topics but spent most of the time on alternative plans to the Moon other than the Program of Record for Artemis using the lunar landers by SpaceX or Blue, SLS & the Gateway. We talked about the law and how much authority NASA or the President may have in modifying how we do the mission plus there was good discussion regarding the alternative plan proposed by Dr. Kothari. AJAY has discussed in ideas on TSS plus for the last time he was on, there is a PDF document that explains the details of his approach using FH and more. If you have not read that doc, please do so. Read the full summary of this program a www.thespaceshow.com when available and for this date, March 16, 2025.

John and I welcomed back Eric Berger of Ars Technica to discuss the recent Demo #8 test flight for Starship. As everyone knows by now, while the first stage was successfully landed at the pad, the Starship blew up before reaching orbit much at the same interval as Demo #7. Eric talked about the problems which have yet to be confirmed but are likely given recent propulsion system modifications. Also talked about was the wide and very dangerous debris field caused by the rocket's destruction. In response to a question, Eric said this fact would probably cause the FAA to take a close look at applicable issues regarding the debris field and not harming third parties. Possible changes and even timeline modifications were talked about. Read the full summary when available at www.thespaceshow.com for this date, Wednesday, March 12, 2025.

We welcomed back Laura Montgomery, atty for an action packed discussion on her policy and law wish list for space this year and for the new administration. We talked about two key items on her wish list. The first was for her to see an Executive Order issuing clarification for Article 6 of the OST. She explained the matter at hand and its an important and necessary event needing to happen on her wish list. In addition, we talked about space property rights. Here, Laura suggested we see if we can apply our terrestrial Adverse Possession laws to the Moon/space. For sure you don't want to miss this discussion which took place near the end of our program. We had two callers and several email listener questions. Please read the full summary of this program when available at www.thespaceshow.com for this date, Friday, March 14, 2025.

Dr. Kothari was with us to discuss the recent congressional hearing on Artemis and return to the Moon programs as he attended the hearing. You can find the hearing on YouTube if you want to watch. Ajay reported on the two guests, the need for a sustainable program, then he talked about his own ideas for a sustainable program to the Moon using Falcon Heavy. Our guest has put his information on our blog for this show so do check it out, including his PDF on returning humans to the Moon. We got several questions and calls, some which inquired about the process to get ideas before the policy makers. Please read the full summary of this program when available at www.thespaceshow.com for this date, Tuesday, March 11, 2025.

We welcomed back to the show noted space attorney Wayne White. Be sure to read his papers posted on the blog regarding his work on space property rights. Property right were a main topic for our discussion with Wayne putting forth a way to achieve them. He constantly referred to his previous Space Pioneer Act for related topics plus methos to employ property rights - legally. Wayne received many emails from listeners plus a few detailed phone calls regarding his property rights ideas. I even responded to one caller with one of my classic rants given the nature of his question. Please read the full summary of this show when available at www.thespaceshow.com for this date Sunday, March 9, 2025.

Dr. Martin Elvis returned to discuss the need and his plan to protect essential science locations on the Moon. His recent paper on the subject is on our blog. We talked about voluntary adherence to rules that might be put forth, mandatory, and the wishes of the astronomy community. Read the full summary of this program at www.thespaceshow.com for this date, Friday, March 7, 2025.

Doug Messier was the guest talking about the commercial lunar landers landing on the Moon and about to land on the Moon. Doug talked with us about each one, their missions, the experiments on board, their launchers and the role NASA played with each one, if any. Read the full summary of this program at www.thespaceshow.com when it becomes available for this date, Wednesday, March 5, 2025.

Doug Messier returned to discuss the current landers that recently put down on the Moon plus one landing in a few days and then a few months from now. We talked about their respective missions, hardware, rovers and the advances they made to enable their successful lunar landings. Doug updated us on Starship and their upcoming flight plus we talked about other launchers including Rocket Labs and Blue Origin. Multiple additional short topics made their way to our discussion. Read the full summary of this show when available at www.thespaceshow.com for this date, Tuesday, March 5, 2025.

Joe returned with updates on spin and AG. We talked about why NASA does not research this field and what that may suggest about NASA's thoughts on humans BLEO. We had several long lasting calls on various topics. Joe talked about his research per the paper uploaded to our blog for this program. Please read the full summary when available at www.thespaceshow.com for this date, Sunday, March 2, 2025.

John and I welcomed back Dr. Harold Connolly to discuss the most recent findings from the sample return from steroid Bennu. We are learning much from these samples about our early solar system. Read the full summary when available at www.thespaceshow.com for this date, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025.

We welcomed Charlie Chafer back to the program for Celestis updates, new missions they offer as memorial spaceflights, lunar missions concerns, potential Mars missions, their deep space mission and more. We talked payloads, rideshare, more and more lunar missions, launch reliability and some on the funeral and cremation side of the business. I do apologize for the poor audio with this program. Read the full summary when it becomes available at www.thespaceshow.com for this date, Friday, Feb. 21, 2025.