Guests: Open Lines with Dr. David Livingston; Topic(s): Multiple topics and callers mostly addressing the topics mentioned in the tags which are repeated below for your convenience.
Tags: Open Lines, the new U.S. nuclear bomb B61-13, tactical nuclear weapons, B83 bomb, thermonuclear vs. hydrogen bomb, fusion, missiles vs. bombers, reduced bomb size, testing at the Nevada Test Site, Avi Loeb Space Show program critique, congressional UAP hearings, Japanese mouse microgravity embryo study, Bob Zimmerman details of the study, Real Clear Science regarding Bezos subsidies for the New Shepherd Rocket, New Glenn Rocket, the BE-4 engine, ULA for sale, Boeing on satellite constellations and competition with SpaceX, mid-size launch market timing concerns, competition with Starship, fully reusable benefits, large vehicle cost effectiveness, F9 market, SpaceX monopoly, Rick Tumlison on pregnancy in space risk & adverse industry outcome, Dr. Plata commentary on Tumlinson prognosis, return from Leo-Moon makes a difference.
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Welcome to our Open Lines program. After going over the upcoming Space Show schedule, John Hunt from Ft. Worth was our first caller. John's call was timely and most interesting to me, and I hope to the audience as he addressed the U.S. government announcement of a new very power nuclear bomb, the B61-13 nuclear gravity bomb, designated the B61-13. You can get more information on this new nuclear bomb at www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3571660/department-of-defense-announces-pursuit-of-b61-gravity-bomb-variant. John discussed the bomb, answered several questions about the kilo tonnage of the bomb, we talked about a thermonuclear weapon as opposed to a hydrogen bomb and more. In addition, I asked John what he knew about the Biden Administration inviting the Chinese to Los Alamos to see this weapon. John could not comment on that any more than what has been mentioned in the media. Before John signed off from the call, he mentioned future congressional hearings planned for the UAP matter from the oversight committee.
The next call was from Fremont John who mentioned that on the recent Bob Zimmerman show, Bob mentioned the early stage mouse embryo Japanese experiment on the ISS. John has posted the research paper for this experiment on our blog, will be posting about it on his own blog in the near future and Bob has it on his website, Behindtheblack.com. Bob mentioned that the research showed no discernible damage or problems to the embryos after five days in microgravity but that lots more research was needed. John went into more detail about the experiment, plus John refreshed our memory with the earlier Japanese experiments on board the ISS a few years ago. However, it should be noted that John realized later that the earlier experiments on the ISS were not for pregnant rats. It was for pubs that had been born recently and then reared in microgravity and 1/6g in the centrifuge on the JAXA Kibo module. Pregnant mice were studied in microgravity aboard the Space Shuttle back in the 1990s. I urge you to listen to what John said and to read the research which he has covered previously on his blog and to which he provided links on ours for this show. These types of experiments and lots more on all stages of mammalian gestation are essential to determining the likelihood of human pregnancy in LEO or cislunar space, even the Moon. As John pointed out, the surface of Mars requires much more research with many more answers to research questions we have yet to even ask. As our program was ending, we got a call from Dr. Doug who commented on some of this though he seemed a bit more risk tolerant for LEO-Moon space because it would be easy to get a pregnant woman back to Earth quickly. Thus her pregnancy would mostly be in 1 g here on Earth. Just how one determines on a timely basis if a pregnancy exists or gets a maybe not so willing person to return to Earth is part of the many questions surrounding this topic.
After our call from John, Marshall called to reference Real Clear Science in asking the question how long a subsidy to Bezos for his New Shepherd rocket would continue. He also commented on the probability of the New Glenn rocket wondering if it had already missed the market due to SpaceX. Marshall also commented on concerns about the BE4 engine along with concerns about the new ULA Vulcan scheduled for its first launch on Christmas Eve. After Marshall's short call, We heard from Tony in Pasadena with two emails which I read on air, updating us with information on Boeing not competing with constellations due to SpaceX plus ULA being up for sale.
As mentioned earlier, Doug called at the end of the program. He had lots to say on the mid-size launch market and the fact that the larger rockets operate more economically that smaller rockets. He talked about SpaceX dominance of the launch market and even dominance of the F9 launch market segment. He briefly discussed monopolies in the context of SpaceX and the launch industry. Before he signed off, he wanted to comment on what Rick Tumlinson said on his recent Space Show program in that if a pregnancy took place in LEO resulting in adverse consequences, it would stop the industry if not forever for a very long time. Doug disagreed with Rick's conclusion as I stated earlier in this summary. Rick has stated his views on other forums besides The Space Show so you might have heard him talking about it. If not, I urge you to listen to his recent show from Oct. 27 and at this URL: https://www.thespaceshow.com/show/27-oct-2023/broadcast-4107-rick-tumlinson. Let us know what you think about both Rick's and Doug's view on this issue.
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