Guest: Dr. Don Rapp; Topics: Multiple topics including mission planning, lunar and Mars mission differences, settlement, commercial space economics, climate change, timelines, R&D, mission design in PowerPoint and lots more. Don't miss this discussion.
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Don spent a good portion of the program addressing a concern of mine that I have brought up on multiple Space Show programs regarding mission planning. I asked Don to tell us what goes into a space mission plan, both human and nonhuman missions. Many people call TSS or send emails telling us how they have worked this or that out for the Moon, Mars or something else yet they have never done anything in space nor do they have any particular space credentials to make one thing that they could plan and put forth a space mission. Don is and was a veteran of multiple missions but for this thought process and information exchange, he mostly talked about the Mars MOXIE tool and experiment as that one is still current. He mentioned other missions, talked about the multiple teams, the types of back and forth, testing, evaluating, number crunching, crossing disciplines and of course budget and costing concerns, the inclusion of many disciplines, then presentations seeking approval. A good part of our discussion Don centered around his mission planning and related work. I thought was very educational and insightful. By the way he talked about the Deep Impact mission plus he had lots to say about human missions plus even more to say about the private sector in mission planning as compared to NASA or an experienced government agency.
Later in the show, Dr. Lurio called to challenge him on some of what he had to say about the private sector, SpaceX and commercial space as Don was harsh on all of this. For example, he called space settlement a pipe dream and then he explained why it was such. When breakthroughs and new tech were brought up by Charles and listeners as possibly being resolved over a timeline, check out how Don managed the idea from throwing cold water on it to lots of excited anticipation. Don went through many challenges and many areas where we have insufficient knowledge or technology to even begin to plan a mission. Charles argued that in time we would resolve these deficiencies. Listen to how Don responded to Charles. Please post your comments and questions on our blog for this show as we want to hear your thoughts and opinions on what our guest was sharing with us.
Toward the end Don talked more and more about leaning toward Public Private Partnership. He got an email on space solar power and told us how he supported it and why but what was not primetime about it. He did not think much of space tourism as a commercial money driver because he thought the market was not sufficient to cover the costs and return an ROI. Note that the ROI was a big part of his commercial space commentary.
As we were about to end, Judy sent in a note about Don's opinion on climate change as he had not supported it and even wrote a book about it not being real. The first time Don was a guest on the show was about his climate change position and his book which was new at the time. Don surprised us by saying he had somewhat modified his climate position from those earlier days. Don't miss his discussion this to learn just how he modified it. I won't tell you; I want you to listen carefully to what our guest had to say on this issue. This would be another great opportunity for you to post commentary on the blog.
For an 89-year-old guy, to me Don is all there and still packing more to give, do and share. I would love to be in his shape at 89 and still be hosting The Space Show.
Please post your comments/questions on our blog for this show. You can reach Dr. Rapp by emailing The Space Show.
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