Making Space Pay

[Swampcat]

<center><blockquote><p align="left">How one company is making space pay<br /><br /><font color="orange">Jim Benson has a plan for colonizing space.<br /><br />To be sure, building self-sustaining settlements on other planets isn't the first item on the to-do list he sketched out five years ago, as the founder of one of the space industry's scrappiest publicly traded companies. In fact, SpaceDev's 60-year-old chairman and chief executive officer stands to be in his 70s or 80s by the time he gets to that part of his technology roadmap.<br /><br />But he does have a plan — and so far, the plan is right on schedule, thanks to projects ranging from low-cost, high-performance microsatellites to the historic SpaceShipOne suborbital flights and even more ambitious orbital dreams.</font></p></blockquote></center><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="3" color="#ff9900"><p><font size="1" color="#993300"><strong><em>------------------------------------------------------------------- </em></strong></font></p><p><font size="1" color="#993300"><strong><em>"I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical. Unsuccessful rebellions, indeed, generally establish the encroachments on the rights of the people which have produced them. An observation of this truth should render honest republican governors so mild in their punishment of rebellions as not to discourage them too much. It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government."</em></strong></font></p><p><font size="1" color="#993300"><strong>Thomas Jefferson</strong></font></p></font> </div>

 

[nyarlathotep]

Step 1. Write press release.<br /><br />Step 2. ????<br /><br />Step 3. Profit.

 

[Swampcat]

<font color="yellow">"Step 1. Write press release. <br /><br />Step 2. ???? <br /><br />Step 3. Profit. "</font><br /><br />That is the $64k question that Jim Benson (as well as all other space entrepreneurs) are trying to solve.<br />IMO, Mr. Benson is approaching the problem in a rational way...balancing what can be done in the here and now against what he wants to acheive in the future...and taking it step by step while, hopefully, making a profit along the way.<br /><br />Another interesting point is that he seems to understand that, at least in the early stages, he (i.e., SpaceDev) can't do it alone. He talks about collaboration with companies like Bigelow Aerospace and SpaceX, rather than competition.<br /> <br />It will be interesting to see how close he is to his Space Technology Road Map in another five years and beyond.<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="3" color="#ff9900"><p><font size="1" color="#993300"><strong><em>------------------------------------------------------------------- </em></strong></font></p><p><font size="1" color="#993300"><strong><em>"I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical. Unsuccessful rebellions, indeed, generally establish the encroachments on the rights of the people which have produced them. An observation of this truth should render honest republican governors so mild in their punishment of rebellions as not to discourage them too much. It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government."</em></strong></font></p><p><font size="1" color="#993300"><strong>Thomas Jefferson</strong></font></p></font> </div>