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kdavis007
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Can’t all space nerds get along?<br />by Michael Huang<br />Monday, July 30, 2007<br /><br />Observers of space politics have identified three interest groups in the civil space sector: government-funded scientific robots/machines, government-funded human spaceflight, and private space industry. They have been called the Sagan, Von Braun, and O’Neill models respectively. Each group argues against the others in an attempt to establish itself as the dominant paradigm.<br /><br />The question is whether these conflicts are at all necessary. Even the names of these interest groups are not as clear-cut as they might seem. Sagan advocated colonization as well as robotic exploration in his book Pale Blue Dot, von Braun was instrumental in both the first American satellite and the first American astronaut, and O’Neill supported both governmental and private approaches to colonization. They arguably have more similarities than differences. Their respective organizations—Planetary Society, National Space Society (and Mars Society), and Space Frontier Foundation—have different priorities but share many common interests.<br /><br />Looking at the positive and promotional side of these interest groups, they could be summarized as pro-science, pro-human, and pro-private. There is nothing inconsistent with holding all three positions. One can simultaneously support scientific unmanned programs, human spaceflight programs, and space tourism ventures without any contradictions. It is a non-zero-sum game, where all three can make progress at the same time. An example of this would be an expanding space tourism industry happening at the same time as an increase in the total NASA budget (including both human and robotic programs).<br /><br />Zero-sum games also exist in space politics. Pro-science vs. anti-science, pro-human vs. anti-human, and pro-private vs. anti-private are debates where gains by one side equal losses by the other. As a participant in the human spaceflight debate, m