The Space Show

We welcomed Tom Olson back to The Space Show for a 92 minute program to discuss the newly created Center for Space Commerce and Finance along with the revised NewSpace Business Plan Competition. At ISDC 2017 in St. Louis this year, there are five regional finalists with business plans with a winner to be selected by three judges. Tom spoke about this ISDC track for a good part of the first segment, explaining how the revised business plan competition will be working going forward. We then spoke about a new business venture for Tom, Avealto, LTD., based in the UK, which will soon provide High Altitude Platforms for internet and mobile services to under served areas of the world. Avealto is partnering with JP Aerospace for the high altitutde platorms which Tom described in some detail. We talked about markets, customers, the technology, as well as pricing for the services. Tom was also asked about the coverage area for the platforms. In our second segment, we tried an experiment with a Lightening Round type of Q&A. Listen to the details on air and let us know what you think of he idea as Tom is interested in doing this for a full show with proper advance promotion. Topics discussed in this format included SLS, Orion, space policy, private versus public space programs, the newly revived National Space Council, the level of risk NASA appears willing to accept, plus space settlement for having kids, families, and such. As the program was about to end, a listener wanted to know Tom's preference for either lunar tourism or a one way trip to Mars. Can you guess what Tom preferred? Read the full summary of this show at www.thespaceshow.com for this date, Thursday, May 18, 2017.