Guest: Rand Simberg: Topics: Apollo July 20th anniversary, Artemis 1 lunar mission, lunar south pole not Tranquility Base, multiple other important space news topics including the October concern about renewing the learning period for commercial space.
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We welcomed Rand Simberg back to the show for this special Apollo July 20th anniversary program. As with other programs, I suggest you follow the tags for this show as they fairly summarize the topics of discussion. Here are the tags: Rand Simberg, July 20 Apollo anniversary, Space News on going back to Tranquility Base on Artemis 1, three reasons for returning to Tranquility Base, Artemis 1 to lunar S. Pole, purpose of exploration, tourism endangers Tranquility Base, entrepreneurs and the Moon, Musk and Mars, Starship, SLS, Gateway, July 20th as inspirational, America awareness for returning to the Moon, lunar ice and profitability, robots, AI, human lunar exploration vs robotic lunar exploration, Lady Ghost Busters, Blue Origin, SpaceX, ULA and Blue Origin engines, Boca Chica, three commercial lunar companies, gravity prescription, commercial space stations, space settlement, centrifuges, Space News Op-Ed, Space Solar Power, Fusion vs. SSP, space tourism not yet mature, Evoloterra, Boca Chica and Starship launch, renewing the learning curve for commercial launch Oct 2023, ending the learning period consequences, Small Sat Conference, AIAA Ascend.
A good portion of the program was in response to the Space News article stating that for the first Artemis lunar trip we should return to Tranquility Base. You can see this article at https://spacenews.com/return-to-tranquility-base-first. While Rand said that the reasons the author cited were good reasons, he disagreed that a return to the Moon should be lower risk and a repeat of what we did decades ago. Rand responded to the author's three reasons for wanting to return to Tranquility Base and mentioned a forthcoming Op-Ed in Space News with his reply co-authored by Michelle Hanlon. You can read the Op-Ed that appeared a week later, July 25, 2023 in Space News: https://spacenews.com/if-youre-going-to-the-south-pole-go-to-the-south-pole. Several listeners sent in comments agreeing with Rand about going to the lunar south pole region. Let us know what you think by posting your comments on our blog.
Toward the end of the discussion, the issue of renewing the learning period for commercial space stemming from the 2004 Commercial Space Act was discussed. Rand would like to see it renewed and said interested parties were working on it with congress and the involved government organizations. As of the time of this program, the extension remains uncertain. We will be following it as the expiration is October of this year.
Listeners asked Rand about the recent engine explosion for Blue Origin and ULA as Vulcan uses the engine that blew up. Rand talked about Blue, ULA, Bezos and Tory Bruno. Our guest also talked about space tourism in response to listener commentary. He commented that it was not yet a mature industry as I had suggested it might not be commercial due to the lack of scheduling of flights and the commercial sale of tickets. Later Rand was asked about exploring the Moon with AI and robotics rather than humans. Don't miss what he said in response to that line of questioning. Other issues including the gravity RX, settlement, Starship, SLS and Starship launches from Boca Chica.
Please post your questions/comments for Rand Simberg on our blog for this show. You can reach Rand through me here at The Space Show or many of his papers and articles which show his email address.
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