Rocketplane shoots for space trips by 2007

An Oklahoma space-travel company says it is aiming to win the race to put paying passengers on suborbital trips, with commercial flights scheduled to begin by early 2007.

"We intend to make it a five-star experience," said David Urie, vice president of Rocketplane Ltd.

Will We Never Return to the Moon?

I vividly recall watching Neil Armstrong late in the evening on July 20, 1969. It was very late for an eight year old, but my father said I would tell my grandchildren about seeing the first man walk on the moon. The next morning, I met with a freshly decorated classroom (It was a summertime art program), all in an Apollo theme, with “A SMALL STEP FOR A MAN, A GIANT LEAP FOR MANKIND” in proud block silver letters on a deep blue background above the front chalkboard. It seemed that we were accelerating toward a bright future in the heavens. Yet, humankind has not set foot on the moon since Apollo 17 in December of 1972. Have we simply stumbled after a great leap, or have the tools to reach for the stars been laid too far from our collective grasp?

One Scenario for Lunar Profit.

The technology presently exists for individuals and corporations to profit from the resources on the moon. The flat lowlands, or "mare" regions of the moon formed about 4 billion years ago when immense asteroid impacts fractured the crust, allowing the lavas from 200 miles deep to erupt into vast seas. Billions of years of pounding by meteorites, micrometeorites and solar and cosmic radiation has yielded a powder 2 to 10 meters deep in the lowlands, and 100s to 1000s of meters in the highlands. This regolith layer contains minerals containing aluminum, calcium, iron, magnesium and a remarkably high content of titanium. These and other abundant minerals are the building blocks for ceramics, glass and fiberglass, all of which can be used in refining and producing metals for structures, for tools and, ultimately, for export.

Profitable operation on the lunar surface would be characterized by a high initial cost, followed by very low operating costs. The present $10,000 per pound maximum cost for exporting materials from the earth’s surface obviously inhibits immediate large-scale lunar activities. Yet, lunar operations could begin with small-scale production of ceramics and metals for structures and tools. The absence of an atmosphere makes solar energy abundant, especially at the poles, where ice has recently been discovered. A solar panel powered refinery using electrolysis in a vacuum could separate raw materials based upon temperature, while producing copious amounts of oxygen. Ceramic refractory can be manufactured using the same process. Initial operations would additionally need to include the capacity to shuttle to a lunar orbiting platform, given the inability of humans to be indefinitely subjected to low gravity.

Once the lunar base takes root, materials for the construction of additional facilities can be exported to the lunar orbiter and production capabilities will increase, as the base begins to flower. Semiconductors abundant in regolith can be used to construct photovoltaic cells. Aluminum oxide powered rockets can be fabricated for transport to and from the lunar surface. A magnetic accelerator can be employed to eject a steady flow of materials into orbit for collection by an orbiting facility or collection vehicles. Centrifuges to mimic 1g environments can be constructed on the surface and in orbit, to enable long-term habitation by humans and their sources of food. Surface operations would continually focus on collection of materials for export to the orbiter and exploration for potentially large quantities of pure materials.

The orbiting facility will evolve into a semi-refined material collection, manufacturing and transportation hub. The refined products can contribute to the expansion of the orbital structure and to fabricate transport vehicles, tools, etc. It will have the advantage of continuous solar energy for power and thermal applications. Product from the surface may be used as raw material to fabricate larger scale electrolysis refineries. Eventually, large quantities of high margin product like titanium can be exported back to earth for commercial sale.

The Tools To Meet An Undeveloped Expanse.

Economic development using only available raw materials located in an undeveloped environment was once central to the national consciousness in the United States. European monarchies made initial capital outlays to explore the new world. However, expenditure by national governments did not develop the western hemisphere. Economic innovations such as the corporate form enabled almost any European entrepreneur to access sufficient capital to finance journeys for commercial benefit. New world development flowed from the corporate form. The great fortunes that ensued coincided with aggregate increases in European population longevity, greater knowledge and technical innovations, all of which greatly enhanced the aggregate quality of life of mankind.

In America, the establishment of the Plymouth Colony, which nearly winked out of existence in 1622, was one of our first lessons teaching the need to provide free access to capital. The founders communal means of distributing goods and services resulted the colonists to “retard much employment” and “languish in misery.” To increase production, in 1623 each family received a plot of land to work and manage. The following harvest resulted in such abundance, that Governor Bradford, "sett aparte a day of thanksgiveing." Of 99 first comers in 1621, nearly half perished, while in 1623, “died not one man, woman or child.” A national day of Thanksgiving is still celebrated today.

The development of an American transportation network likewise did not develop as a result of government expenditures. In 1828 there were three miles of railway; in 1830, forty-one miles; in 1840, 2,200; in 1850, 7,500, and; in 1860, 29,000. So what accounts for this parabolic acceleration of the rate of capital formation between 1830 and 1860?

The first passenger rail line in the United States was the Ithaca & Oswego line, which ran for thirty miles connecting Ithaca to the Erie Canal. The railway opened in 1834. It was built in with private capital contributions, but the state charter reserved the right to regulate rates. The early operations of the railway were characterized by operational and maintenance problems and a series of fatal accidents. Nevertheless, the first steamed powered engine stared in 1837. However, the rail line failed to thrive - on July 4th 1842, Ithaca's leaders went to Owego for a celebration, and they had to get out and push when the engine failed five miles short of its destination. The Cayuga & Susquehana Railroad acquired the line at a bankruptcy sale in 1843.

The legislature passed reforms applicable to railways in the New York General Railroad Act of 1850, partially in response to a public outcry from the scandalously close relationship between railroad companies and politicians. The act permitted the use of the corporate form for railway ownership and operation, without the reserved right to set rates. By October of 1851, coal trains began to arrive in Ithaca. The line was rebuilt in 1855 by George Scranton and it was later incorporated into the Erie Lackawana. Ultimately, the line carried passengers and freight including up to one hundred coal cars per day. The New York legislation became a model for other states. As an indication of the ability of private railway entrepreneurs to access capital, in 1835 only 3 Railroads were traded on Wall Street, by 1850 38 were traded, and by 1855 RR shares accounted for half the negotiable securities in the U.S.

Sadly, the mostly unrestrained entepreneurism that forged the expansion and construction of the United States has increasingly become a target for those who seek to provide for even greater good. Yet, like in the Plymouth Colony or with the Ithaca & Oswego Railway Company, nearly every attempt to legislate egalitarian ideals has resulted in the restriction of the free access to capital for entrepreneurs. The inevitable result is lost opportunity and economic stagnation.

So, has mankind stumbled or stagnated, when it comes to reaching toward the moon? What follows may surprise you. As you read the following selected quotes from the “Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, Including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies,” ratified by the United States in 1967, you should ask whether you, as an investor, would place the extremely high risk portion of you portfolio in a venture prohibited from securing rights to private property or privacy to protect proprietary holdings:

Article I

The exploration and use of outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries, irrespective of their degree of economic or scientific development, and shall be the province of all mankind.

Outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, shall be free for exploration and use by all States without discrimination of any kind, on a basis of equality and in accordance with international law, and there shall be free access to all areas of celestial bodies.

There shall be freedom of scientific investigation in outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, and States shall facilitate and encourage international co-operation in such investigation. Article II

Outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means.

* * * Article XI

In order to promote international co-operation in the peaceful exploration and use of outer space, States Parties to the Treaty conducting activities in outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, agree to inform the Secretary-General of the United Nations as well as the public and the international scientific community, to the greatest extent feasible and practicable, of the nature, conduct, locations and results of such activities. On receiving the said information, the Secretary-General of the United Nations should be prepared to disseminate it immediately and effectively.

Article XII

All stations, installations, equipment and space vehicles on the Moon and other celestial bodies shall be open to representatives of other States Parties to the Treaty on a basis of reciprocity. Such representatives shall give reasonable advance notice of a projected visit, in order that appropriate consultations may be held and that maximum precautions may be taken to assure safety and to avoid interference with normal operations in the facility to be visited.

Article XVI

Any State Party to the Treaty may give notice of its withdrawal from the Treaty one year after its entry into force by written notification to the Depositary Governments. Such withdrawal shall take effect one year from the date of receipt of this notification.

http://www.state.gov/t/ac/trt/5181.htm#treaty

The solution for stimulating the stagnating reach for the stars should be obvious to the majority of our policy makers. Massive expenditures by central governments may be the right formula for proving that great feats of exploration can bear fruit. However, for sustained activity in undeveloped expanses to take root, entrepreneurs need free access to capital. Without it, the Plymouth Colony would have amounted to nothing more than a historical footnote. The Ithaca & Oswego Railway Company is a historical footnote. Apollo 17 should not become one.

The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 is toxic to the exploration and economic development in the heavens. As the “President’s Commission on Implementation of United States Space Exploration” notes, the uncertainty created by the existing treaty regimes, “could strangle a nascent spacebased industry in its cradle; no company will invest millions of dollars in developing a product to which their legal claim is uncertain.” An amendment to include grants of celestial private property or an outright withdrawal from thhe Outer Space Treaty of 1967 will be the first step toward equipping American entrepreneurs with the tools they need to reach for the stars.

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