Where Are We Going? The Immediate Future, A Space Based Economy?

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mr_mark

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I've thought about this for some time now. It seems to me that NASA might be going the way of the albatross at least when it comes to space transport systems. In the very near future, companies like Spacex will be able to pass Nasa because of their stream lined programs. What happens then is anyone's guess. Will private space usher in a completely new age and will America soon become a space based economy possibly as a replacement or enhancement to the auto industry.? It seems like Star Trek but, it could happen soon. I'd like to hear your thoughts on this..........thanks
 
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webtaz99

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The military buys tanks and guns from private companies. NASA should buy launch services, so they can concentrate on what they (theoretically) do best - science. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>
 
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Atreju

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<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>I've thought about this for some time now. It seems to me that NASA might be going the way of the albatross at least when it comes to space transport systems. In the very near future, companies like&nbsp;Spacex will be able to pass Nasa because of their stream lined programs. What happens then is anyone's guess. Will private space usher in a completely new age and will America soon become a space based economy possibly as a replacement or enhancement&nbsp;to the auto industry.? It seems like Star Trek but, it could happen soon. I'd like to hear your thoughts on this..........thanks <br /> Posted by mr_mark</DIV></p><p>Hi Mr Mark,</p><p>I agree with you. I think public space enterprises governed by large inefficient and bloated agencies like NASA are right now giving way to the energy and competetive drive of private industry.&nbsp;</p><p>The dynamic in manned spaceflight has shifted in the last eight years from the public to private sectors. While the US government is spending billions in re-enacting the 1960s with its Orion craft, the private sector is spending millions to create a sustainable infrastructure of sub-orbital and orbital platforms that will allow humanity to reach out and grasp the near solar system. <br /> <br /> Consider where private enterprise has gone in the last eight years. In 2000 there was very little going on. Now we have proven sub-orbital vehicles with the first passenger liners through Virgin Galactic hopefully operational next year. Bigelow Aerospace has launched and tested the first orbital habitats, the first civilian space port has been developed in the Mojave and many other companies like XCOR and SpaceX are investing heavily too. By 2010 when the space shuttle is retired, American manned space flight will only exist with the private sector, namely Space&nbsp; Ship Two and SpaceX Falcon 9. </p><p>There is a momentum based on a sustainable model of supply and demand developing. Unlike NASA which has a history of unsustainable enterprises, the ISS being a recent example, 100 Billion dollars for nothing, what a crime against humanity! NASA spent the hard earned cash of working people on a fruitless endeavour. Space should be bought by those who choose to go and people will only choose to go when there is good reason, namely business opportunity.&nbsp; </p><p>Burt Rutan expressed this in a TED lecture in 2006: <br /> http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/burt_rutan_sees _the_future_of_space.html </p><p>While the bubble of privately funded space exploration will be driven mainly by tourism, it is the potential of converting the solar system into processing power that will really transform the economy. For more on this see my thread: Futurity in the Firmament: By 2040 Earth will be a Backwater. When things go nanotech in the next decades then you'll soon see Star Trek look really old hat (Monkey's in tin cans in space! How twentieth century, lol). &nbsp; </p><p>AJ </p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>
 
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neilsox

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I hope AJ is correct, but the commercial space companies have quite a ways to go to pass NASAs better achievements. If the world wide economic down turn persists, progress will be slow. What has nanotech done lately to suggest rapid progress, other than a possibly better battery, which may not be mass produced before 2013?&nbsp;&nbsp; Neil
 
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