Posted on 01/31/2005 6:43:02 PM PST by KevinDavis
A new commercial space venture for lunar exploration has been born.
The Lunar Transportation Systems, Inc. of Bellevue, Washington envisions a bustling space highway as hardware traffics back and forth between the Earth and the Moon.
Goal of the group is to raise major bucks from the private sector to develop, build, ground test, flight test, and operate a new Earth-Moon transportation system.
The Lunar Transportation Systems (LTS) private enterprise has been established by two longtime space businessmen, Walter Kistler and Bob Citron. Both have a track record in pushing the entrepreneurial envelope.
Kistler founded Kistler Instruments AG and was the first investor in SPACEHAB, and co-founded Kistler Aerospace Corporation with Citron who also founded SPACEHAB.
LTS wants to tie into NASA’s Vision for Space Exploration – a sweeping agenda that calls for a greater role of the private sector in space exploration. A scaled-up version of the LTS system will be capable of sending crews to and from the Moon and can provide large cargo payloads to support a permanent lunar base.
“We are so excited that the White House and the recent new government space policy underscores the need to involve the private sector in assisting NASA develop its plans for the new Vision for Space Exploration,” said Walter Kistler, LTS co-founder and Chairman.
“Our new lunar transportation system utilizes a unique architecture that will establish the equivalent of a two-way highway between the Earth and the Moon,” Kistler told SPACE.com. “Our plans include raising private capital to develop, build, flight test, and operate this Earth-Moon highway for the benefit of the country and the benefit of our investors.”
Privatization is ALWAYS good! Future is in our grasp!
In Bellevue? I had no idea that anything was manufactured there whatsoever (except for over the top real estate prices). And crappy drivers.
Seriously, though, it seems to me that the private sector would have crews on the lunar surface a lot sooner than NASA will. Given this nation's abilities, it would've been realistic to expect that first lunar landing by the end of 2005 or early 2006. This 2010-2012 schedule is like watching paint dry, rather than what our nation's youth needs to get motivated to learn science and math again.
shuh-weet!
If somebody is going to build a private truck for earth-moon cargo trips, they ought to ask themselves what the cargo might be. Since mining and agriculture will be strictly illegal on the moon it is hard to imagine what the truck would carry.
Following Sputnik there was a huge call in Congress for more engineers. They got them, too. Then they laid them off a decade later. That is how government works--no continuity. The superior approach would be to create private property rights in outer space and let the private sector loose to conquer the solar system through private business.
The trans-lunar environment does not lend itself to a highway analogy. Now a shipping lane, that might be more appropriate.
Right now it is still open ocean with some limited explored locations charted, but not even any long-term outposts to establish a semblance of two-way traffic.
Not that it isn't possible (I speculated on a private lunar transportation infrastructure project a decade ago. I called it Project Stagecoach.)
Lunar Transportation Project Charter
Lunar Personnel and Cargo Transportation Infrastructure
Project Mission Statement
The purpose of this project is to establish a profit-generating lunar transportation that will facilitate manned settlement of the Moon.
Project Long Term Goals
Project long term goals are:
- Identify and recruit customers interested in booking passage to lunar surface.
- Obtain necessary capital to finance all phases of mission.
- Coordinate mission operations with Russian and American manufacturers and operations contractor.
We have all--except the tourism people--been running into a structural problem. The problem is obviously not resolved or we would be doing this already. Let us focus on getting the legal problems out of the way. Then the technical and business problems will be more interesting.
No private property rights = no private investment
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