Category Archives: Space Policy

Space Policy

Space policy roundup – Sept.4.13

Some recent space policy related items:

Activism, Space Policy

Leadership change at the Space Frontier Foundation

A message from the Space Frontier Foundation:
Space Frontier Foundation Announces New Leadership
The Next Generation Will Lead the Fight for Their Future in Space

Nyack, NY – The Space Frontier Foundation today announced several changes within its senior leadership team, in order to accelerate its transformation of space from a bureaucratic government program into a dynamic and open frontier for all.

Jonathan Card, Executive Director, has elected to step down from his day to day responsibilities.  In his place, Board of Directors member James Pura has been appointed President, and James Tumber will become Vice President.  Together, Pura & Tumber will report directly to the Board of Directors, led by Chairman Bob Werb.

“For 25 years, we have continuously re-invented ourselves in the Foundation.  We’ve always been willing to shake things up “inside” as well as advocating real change in space,” said Foundation Co-Founder Jim Muncy. “With these two young leaders at the helm, I know that the torch we lit in 1988 is in good hands and will continue to point the way to a better future in space.”

James Pura, 29, has years of experience in the aerospace industry, including working at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Boeing, and Space Exploration Technologies. Within the Foundation, Pura has Co-Chaired some of our most successful NewSpace Conferences and serves as Advocates Coordinator. He has a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, San Diego, and currently operates a real estate investment company in Southern California.

 

  James Tumber, 24, currently works for DEKA Research, a company best known for their groundbreaking inventions including the Segway, DEKA Arm, and iBOT.  Tumber has held numerous volunteer positions within the Foundation, including Editor of the NewSpace News.  He has a degree in Aerospace Engineering from Boston University.

 
Activism, Space Policy, SpaceCasts

The Space Show this week

Here’s the list of guests on The Space Show this week:

1. Monday, Sept. 2, 2013, 2-3:30 PM PDT (5-6:30 PM EDT, 4-5:30 PM CDT): We welcome back SIR MARTIN REES to discuss starships, extra-solar planets, SpaceX, quasars, etc. Sir Martin will be in California soon for the meeting celebrating the 50th anniversary of discovery of quasars and he will be talking about this as well.

2. Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2013, 7-8:30 PM PDT (10-11:30 PM EDT, 9-10:30 PM CDT): ANATOLY ZAK is with us regarding the history of the Soviet & Russian space program and current Russian space program issues.

3. Friday, Sept. 6, 2013, 9:30-11 AM PDT (11:30- 1 PM CDT, 12:30PM-2:00 PM EDT): STAN KENNEDY and MAUREEN O”BRIEN are with us with updates for Oakman Aerospace, Inc. (oak-aero.com).

4. Sunday, Sept. 8, 2013, 12-1:30 PM PDT (3-4:30 PM EDT, 2-3:30 PM CDT). We welcome ROB LOWE from the UK to discuss the space tourism company, ShipInSpace (www.parabolicarc.com/2013/08/26/shipinspace-announcement).

See also:
/– The Space Show on Vimeo – webinar videos
/– The Space Show’s Blog – summaries of interviews.
/– The Space Show Classroom Blog – tutorial programs

The Space Show is a project of the One Giant Leap Foundation.

Space Policy

Space policy roundup – Sept.1.13

“Legendary” Chris Kraft,  the first NASA manned spaceflight director, lays into the SLS mess again: Sunday conversation: NASA veteran Chris Kraft upfront with criticism – Houston Chronicle

A sampling of his comments:

  • “The problem with the SLS is that it’s so big that makes it very expensive. It’s very expensive to design, it’s very expensive to develop. When they actually begin to develop it, the budget is going to go haywire.”
  • “Then there are the operating costs of that beast, which will eat NASA alive if they get there. They’re not going to be able to fly it more than once a year, if that, because they don’t have the budget to do it.”
  • Russian rockets achieve high reliability and cost-effectiveness with a high flight rate. “And that’s something the SLS will never have. Never. Because you can’t afford to launch it that many times.”
  • There’s nothing magic about the SLS payload capability. You will eventually need to put far more than that into space anyway so learn to use multiple launches now. NASA needs “an assembly capability, a fuel depot capability and the capability to have people operating there sort of as a Cape Canaveral in the sky.”

These are all common sense remarks that many critics of the SLS/Orion program have been saying since it was hatched in 2010 by a cabal of Congresspersons with NASA centers and/or major NASA contractors in their states (i.e. the only people in Congress who pay attention to space policy). Unfortunately, the program remains a gigantic money-burning fiasco hidden in plain sight because the MSM can’t judge a technical issue like space launch and so few high profile space luminaries point out what a bare-naked boondoggle it is.

More space policy related items:

Update: Scott Pace of GWU talked about space policy on the Space Show yesterday: Dr. Scott Pace, Sunday, 9-1-13 – Thespaceshow’s Blog