Space Entrepreneurs Believe NASA Needs Their Help in Reaching Moon, Mars

NASA must look to private space enterprises for support in future exploration missions, a panel of aerospace professionals and researchers told the President's Commission for the Implementation of United States Space Exploration Policy on Wednesday.

In a hearing before the commission tasked with shaping NASA's exploration aims, space entrepreneurs encouraged commissioners to embrace private access-to-space efforts and contests, such as the $10 million X Prize competition to spur interest in space travel.

There's only one slight hitch: the cost of research & development (R&D) typically far surpasses any so-called "prize" money, so it's kind of silly to call for entrepreneurs to jump in since those entrepreneurs are in any given market to MAKE (not lose) money.

Of course, if the value of the "prize" were bumped up high enough to exceed the of the cost of R&D, then it'd be silly for the government to do it since it'd wind up paying MORE for the R&D than it would otherwise.

Just something to think about...

The great thing about the X-prize, though, is that the winner will have:

1) A functional vehicle
2) Great credentials
3) $10 Million of capital ready to go
4) Lots of free advertising

The winner will also draw the best and brightest, and will have an enormous head start on the other companies.

As for companies doing research more or less efficiently than government labs, well, that's arguable. :p

1) A functional vehicle

With how many customers?

2) Great credentials

With whom? Most people don't even respect the same rocket scientists who got us to the moon and back, much less the rocket scientists who have landed a functional rover on Mars not once but three times.

3) $10 Million of capital ready to go

After spending $15 million, $10 million doesn't exactly go very far.

4) Lots of free advertising

With whom? Lockheed-Martin, Boeing and Northrop-Grumman (and the now-absorbed TRW) do loads of business with NASA. You see any free advertising going on there?

Whoever wins the X-Prize will be the focus of a LOT of attention and venture capital. (IMHO)

Call me cynical, but I'd say Venture Capitalists learned their lesson with the dot-com bust. Selling sizzle only goes so far. If VC climbs on board, there'd better be 100% certainty of steak to go with the sizzle in 1 year or less, or they'll call in their markers.

"The NASA vision, as it's put forth, is not a vision that has the luxury of waiting around for anyone to invent something new," said astrophysicist and commission member Neil deGrasse Tyson. "I worry about the mismatch between waiting for these prizes to be won and the timeline for these space vision missions."

I'm confused. He thinks that offering money to lots of people (self-selecting for enthusiasm, and widening the pool of creativity applied to the problem) is slower than having bureaucrats assign the problem (as they understand it) to a small group of government engineers?

How does someone that stupid get into a position of responsibility? (Don't answer that. It's rhetorical).

>1) A functional vehicle

>>With how many customers?

It depends on the market at the time and the cost of the finished product.

>2) Great credentials

>>With whom? Most people don't even respect the same rocket scientists who got us to the moon and back, much less the rocket scientists who have landed a functional rover on Mars not once but three times.

Most people don't need to contract out satellite launches, though. :) These guys do more than a google search before they strap their multi-million dollar satellites on someone's stack of high explosives. Having a machine that is man-rated certainly helps in that department!

>3) $10 Million of capital ready to go

>>After spending $15 million, $10 million doesn't exactly go very far.

How do you figure? They've done the research, now they just have to build more machines and get clients. The big hurdle is getting the thing designed and built. Momentum is the name of the game.

>4) Lots of free advertising

>>With whom? Lockheed-Martin, Boeing and Northrop-Grumman (and the now-absorbed TRW) do loads of business with NASA. You see any free advertising going on there?

Again, we aren't important. It is the people who build satellites and need them put in to orbit that these guys will need to woo, and having a track record makes a big difference. People are more likely to trust Northrop-Grumman, or even Ariane, than Armadillo Aerospace (grin) because those first two companies have proven that their product can put things into orbit without exploding or going off course. The X-Prize winner will have shown that they can make cheap, homegrown vehicles that are safe enough to launch human beings, putting them close to, if not in that same tier of companies.

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