Why Obama's Commercial Space Initiative is Not Commercial

Associated Content ^ | September 6th, 2010 | Mark R. Whittington

[Marcus]

One of the selling points of the Obama space policy is that it proposed to enable a commercial space transportation industry. No longer would NASA build expensive, in-house space ships like the shuttle or the proposed Orion/Ares 1.

As it turns out, by "commercial" the Obama administration means something akin to how it has treated the automobile industry, banks, and other sectors of the economy. The government will not only be the principle investor, but it will also be, in the absence of commercial markets for space transportation, the sole customer. This is "commercial" only in the sense that the college professors and political activists who populate the Obama administration would understand.

[hadaclueonce]

A space vehicle designed and promoted by the chosen one had better be better than his 40 mile, $41,000 electric car that he had a hand in.

[Vaduz]

Commercial space transportation safe as airliners what could go wrong?.

[cripplecreek]

Freight haulers and space raxis under government contract are not commercial.

Ditch the outer space treaty and let private companies lay claim to plots of land on the moon, asteroids, and planets.

[Truth29]

Worthwhile article discussing the likelihood of private commercial space systems, but a huge error in the middle of it. The space station will not end its life cycle in 2010. It will be somewhere in the 2015 - 2020 time frame. However, Obama could end the LEO space program at any time so the error hardly matters.

[Waverunner]

NASA’s Vision has been myopic for a while.

The space station needs to be that, a station with repair and refueling capability, not our current trailer park in the sky.
A hanger bay, where inspection prior to reentry could be performed would greatly increase safety. Also a mars mission should be sending 100 scientists and explorers on a 3 year mission, not 3 guys on a 12 month romp. Think Big - Think Space - build a friggin spaceship. Use technology like we use on carriers and subs to build modules and assemble a large ship in orbit. Use cheap, maybe not as efficient boosters to loft them. Instead we build a few swiss watch spaceships with no backup plans. Arrgghh Willey Ley is spinning in is grave

[6SJ7]

As it turns out, by "commercial" the Obama administration means something akin to how it has treated the automobile industry, banks, and other sectors of the economy.

...in other words, textbook fascism.

[Dr. Sivana]

Rockford, Illinois is filled with all sorts of unused commercial space. You can probably get it for $3/square foot!