Greg Bennett, Moon Society President, Sees Good News In Upcoming Announcement
01/11/04 00:00:00
By Michael Mealling
Greg Bennett, president of the Moon Society had this to say to the society's members yesterday concerning the leak of the Bush administration's space plans last week:
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I see only good news in this. In short:
It moves the U.S. government out of direct competition with private enterprise for development of zero-g space industries in low Earth orbit. The time is ripe for private enterprise to step into that arena.
It creates a program to develop all the systems for a permanent lunar community, opening the path for private enterprise. After years of researching the problem, we are painfully aware that the capital required to do this as purely private enterprise is overwhelming.
Government-funded lunar development creates a customer for a huge variety of private ventures on Luna. Customers make it much easier to finance private enterprise.
The emphasis on pressing on to Mars defines a path where the government programs step aside, again opening the frontier for private enterprise.
It results in a huge demand for launch of both people and cargo. Increased demand means more open opportunities for development of alternative launch systems. The greatest challenge facing the launch community today is the lack of customers, while the greatest challenge facing the customers is the lack of affordable launchers.
In an era of limited budgets this program defines a challenging goal that cannot be completed without lowering the cost of launch and interplanetary space transportation.
I can't think of a better program for the United States to invest its taxpayers' money in space development. I do have three big issues in mind, though.
The major question is whether the congress will support it with funding. As always, the level of funding indicated is minuscule in comparison to total U.S. federal outlays; however, as always, space projects are visible to the public and hence attract criticism far beyond their actual cost. We can fully expect that some members of congress will attempt to use the cost of the program as a political ploy. The question is whether the majority of them will follow the sleazy path or recognize the true value of the program.
Secondary to that question is how the program will be organized and what philosophy it will apply to acquiring the resources it needs to accomplish its goals. If the government can emphasis purchase of services over internal development of systems and supporting infrastructure, that will greatly speed us on the path to private development in the realm beyond the sky.
And third, there's the question that Vik raised. Even if the current president and congress accept this commitment, will future presidents and congresses have the will to follow through?
To assure that the U.S. government will continue the commitment, we need excellent support from the program's supporters in the administration and the legislature, but the ultimate responsibility falls us voters in the United States.
As I've said many times before, politics is how we control our government. This is a political issue, so we need to be willing and able to set aside partisan differences and get out there and join the campaign at all levels. We can learn from Apollo. If we, the voters, don't keep the commitment, the politicians won't either.
That means we finally have a real reason to get involved in politics, even as the Moon Society.
The first step is to write to your local congressmen and senators and encourage them to support the initiative. Do that today if you possibly can; strike while the iron is hot. It will only cost you a few minutes of your time and 37 cents for a stamp.
It wouldn't hurt to send a brief, encouraging letter to the president, too.
We can define additional projects as things develop, but that initial feedback to your elected representatives is vital.
Greg
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