Section III Building a Robust Space Industry

06/16/04 00:00:00    

By Michael Mealling

bq. The Commission finds that sustaining the long-term exploration of the solar system requires a robust space industry that will contribute to national economic growth, produce new products through the creation of new knowledge, and lead the world in invention and innovation. This space industry will become a national treasure.

bq. Given the complexity and challenges of the new vision, the Commission suggests that a more substantial prize might be appropriate to accelerate the development of enabling technologies. As an example of a particularly challenging prize concept, $100 million to $1 billion could be offered to the first organization to place humans on the Moon and sustain them for a fixed period before they return to Earth. The Commission suggests that more substantial prize programs be considered and, if found appropriate, NASA should work with the Congress to develop how the funding for such a prize would be provided.

Yes. That's Bob Walker talking there. He's probably going to advocate for an incremental ($500 million a year) prize for sustained lunar base.

bq. The Commission recommends that Congress increase the potential for commercial opportunities related to the national space exploration vision by providing incentives for entrepreneurial investment in space, by creating significant monetary prizes for the accomplishment of space missions and/or technology developments and by assuring appropriate property rights for those who seek to develop space resources and infrastructure.

Hmm…. that's really it. The rest of it gets into the Science and Education agendas. I was really hoping for specific recommendations on FAR contracting changes and some detail on exactly what they mean by “partnership” between public and private. I think they only mentioned once that the point was that NASA should have nothing to do with the missions at all other than buying slots for rides.

I had to search through the document to look for it but I finally found the “We all wanted to go!” quote. Here's the context (page 15): bq. Public ownership of this agenda must be broad, deep, and nonpartisan. Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo astronauts did not really belong to NASA, but to the public. That was just one manifestation of public ownership of NASA during that era. We heard from many in the public and the aerospace industry how President Kennedy s challenge to land a man on the Moon affected an entire generation. One witness from the government said simply, We all wanted to go.

Whoever wrote that didn't get the point of the comment that was made at the hearing. Its like the difference between automobiles and race cars. Watching a NASCAR race makes you want to be able to drive in a race. But that's not the same “I want to do that to” as wanting to be able to drive a car to the corner grocery store. If NASA had been in charge of the automobile industry the above interpretation of the statement would be “Well, we have NASCAR races and people want to be able to do that to so that's sufficient, right”? No. The point is that we want the entire point to be that we're the ones in space doing the work, living our lives, raising our children. If that isn't your goal then all your doing is setting up another car race while I'm still stuck riding a horse to the track.

Oh.. BTW, just found a free facebook proxy service.