"The Tholian Web" Co-writer Chester L. Richards!

Send us Fan MailCalling all Star Trek fans! Chester L. Richards, the co-writer of "The Tholian Web" episode of Star Trek, joins in the conversation, and it's fascinating!! Some of his stories are almost unbelievable like the story about almost being killed by the great potato, the Colorado River, a crocodile, a crazed gunman...In this episode:What it was like when a rocket engine blew upWorking with the royalty of the industryMeeting astronautsMaking something that’s actually space-qualifiedWhat hooked him on scienceHis UFO encounterSR71 planesUFOs or swarms of insects?How he came up with the Tholian WebWhat he thinks of William ShatnerWhat he thinks about the newer Star TrekThe closest to death he’s comeHow his wife’s eulogy affected himLosing his wifeAbout Chester:Prior to retirement, Chester L. Richards was an Engineering Fellow at Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems Division. At Raytheon he was Chief Architect for Advanced Concepts and Architectures. Before joining Raytheon Mr. Richards had an engineering consulting business. His diverse technology career spans half a century. At the beginning of his professional life as a scientist, Mr. Richards invented and patented the first successful automatic focus sensor using real-time image analysis. It was used in aerial reconnaissance cameras. Subsequently, while at the Ford Aerospace Corporation, Mr. Richards was Chief Engineer for Strategic Systems. At Ford he developed the flight instrumentation for the AGNT space flight and re-entry experiment. Mr. Richards invented and patented the Holographic Optical Element which is widely used in large aperture adaptive optics telescopes. Mr. Richards also invented, and successfully field tested, sub-resolution tracking techniques which improved tracking accuracy by two orders of magnitude.During part of his career Chester L. Richards served as a System Engineering Technical Assistant (SETA) consultant to the U.S. Government. In this role Mr. Richards developed the modern Space Based Laser architecture for the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization. He was a member of SDIO’s Mission Analysis Working Group and its Innovative Science and Technology group. As SETA he helped define the functional architecture of Schriever Space Force Base and wrote the Statement of Work establishing the requirements for the base. For the Air Force, Chester L. Richards created the definitive high fidelity sensor model for the DSP satellite series. In addition, he developed high precision target tracking techniques for the Hover Test Facility at Edwards Air Force Base. At Raytheon one of his most important discoveries was the complete quantitative theory of bistatic radar, which previously had been only partially understood. This led to multiple fielded applications. The technical interests of Mr. Richards include system architecture, space systems, physical optics, high energy lasers, image processing, radar, ergonomics, and jet and rocket propulsion. Other activities include: Co-author of “The Tholian Web” script for the third season of the original Star Trek series.  Chester L. Richards has a Bachelor’s Degree in Physics from UC Berkeley and a Masters in Physics from UC Irvine. He completed all course work for PhDs in both Physics and Engineering at UC Irvine. Mr. Richards has 19 patents. His latest patent is for a centrifugal gas generator for gas turbine engines. https://www.chesterlrichards.comConnect with Gary:Gary's WebsiteFollow Gary on InstagramGary's TiktokGary's FacebookWatch the episodes on YouTubeAdvertise on the PodcastThank you for listening. Let us know what you think about this episode. Leave us a review!