11/20/99 Sat/Sun
Y2K report... The American Red Cross said yesterday that we should prepare for Y2K as you would for any disaster. The Federal Reserve has ordered 50 billion in extra currency ready for circulation. Hilly gets a chuckle about the possible rush on toilet paper. Another humerous story is that the head of the Federal Aviation Administrator Jane F. Garvey pledged to be up in a plane when the New Year rolls around but each flight she reserves seems to get canceled. Many commercial airlines have canceled flights since no one seems to want to be in the air when Y2K hits. The White House is telling us not to worry, yet they have spent 50 billion on a high-tech control center to handle any possible problems. The National Guard will have extra people on duty in case anyone gets out of control. The FBI is watching for any groups that might turn to terrorist acts, believeing that the world is ending anyway.
Chemtrail report... The big protest was today in New York, Santa Fe and Aspen and there was no media coverage. Aspen newspaper might have something on it tomorrow. Mr. Carnicom is asking people to get online and send protest letters to various government officials.
2nd Hour... Hilly's guest is Dr. Robert Zubrin. He has two books that Hilly says blew him away. An astronautical engineer, founder of the Mars Society and head of the Pioneer Astronautics Engineering Company in Denver which develops ideas for NASA. Robert says we have become inventors and settled the earth with technology and are now a single global civilization. Instead of thinking of this as being the end of our civilization, we need to think of this as just the beginning. We need the challenge of the new frontier, space exploration. If we used Mars resources we could have humans living on Mars in ten years. We could colonize and set up cities on Mars. The Chinese have plans for space exploration and will probably be competitive with U.S. in ten years. Hilly suggests Bob Bigelow and Robert should get together and work on Mars colonization. We are better prepared technologically, financially and domestically than we were when we explored the moon. We are in a great position to be doing space exploration. He is trying to generate interest in both government funded and privately funded explorations. He suggests we use prizes as an encentive to motivate more space exploration. Then we would have people trying to spend less to achieve this goal and win the prize. Exploration has always paid off. We need a new place where the rules have not been written yet. This freedom is valuable to people.
3rd Hour... Hilly starts with the question of why should we go to Mars instead of the moon. Robert says that the resources are so much greater on Mars and that it is a world that we could really settle. Robert relates some ideas of how we could start exploring using Mars resources rather than bringing everything with us. Another reason we should explore Mars is that scientifically there is likely water underground, there is probably life, and if we find life on Mars, there is likely life on other planets. Asteroids have valuable resources that could be mined. Robert explains some ideas like solar sails, magnetic sails and cold fusion. A national or world-wide agenda of space exploration is what is needed.
4th Hour... Dr. Zubrin says we need to organize in order for space exploration to grow. If we are first to colonize Mars could we sell land to other nations? There is a question of whether a private person could own anything in outer space or have to share it with mankind. They discuss the loss of the pathfinder and whether this was the result of faster, better, cheaper attitudes and underfunding.
Callers... Why should we spend money to explore when we need to fix our problems like polluted drinking water?
5th Hour... Hilly says there are other exploration societies, why do you think the Mars Society will have any more success? What about radiation, entertainment, storms etc.?
Callers... One caller suggests that Robert should get together with Richard Hoagland to get an impetus going in fund raising for exploration. Several callers comment on how many medical and technological advancements have been created because of the space program. Inspiration from the space program also led many to become engineers. We definitely need a challenge.
