Author Topic: Commercial Space Flight  (Read 641 times)

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Offline trapeze

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Commercial Space Flight
« on: January 24, 2012, 10:20:13 PM »
In a doomsday scenario, hippies will be among the first casualties. So not everything about doomsday will be bad.

Offline Libertas

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Re: Commercial Space Flight
« Reply #1 on: January 25, 2012, 07:08:16 AM »
I like this the best!

But Greason isn’t powered by nostalgia for the days of Apollo. Quite the opposite: He is a creature of the new space industry. He left a job at Intel to get into rocketry and thence into business for himself.

“The technology that we’re missing is capitalism,” Greason says later during the same presentation, given at an April TEDx conference in San Jose. “The same thing that makes things work in every other arena of modern life.”

In an interview with Senior Editor Brian Doherty, Greason expanded on that theme: “I’m confident we can develop a profitable market in suborbital spaceflight without the government’s beneficial influences—of course we have to continue to ensure they don’t become a regulatory obstacle, and right now they’re not.” (Read more about their conversation in “Space on Earth” on page 60.)


 ::cool::   ::whoohoo::   ::danceban::

And this!

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) may be Congress’ only proud space geek. On the accomplishments section of his official website, the beach-district congressman lists his work on commercial space first, boasting in particular about serving as chairman of the Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics from 1997 to January 2005, “having been given a two-year waiver to serve beyond the normal six-year term limit,” and helping enact the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act, which sheltered start-up commercial space companies from overly burdensome regulation. He has also pushed the Zero Gravity, Zero Tax Act, which would protect “space-related income” from taxation and offer tax credits to investors in some types of space companies.

. ::cool::   ::whoohoo::   ::danceban::

And lookie here, a unicorn!!!

“Soon the government will play a less important role in space, and I’m pretty excited about it.” At first glance, that’s an odd thing for George Nield to say. As the associate administrator for commercial space transportation at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Nield is the guy whom owners and operators of commercial space vehicles go to when they need permission to do something—including things that are currently prohibited.

Nield’s role at the FAA is twofold: He is charged with ensuring public safety but also with promoting the fledgling commercial space transportation industry. “Frankly, I think it’s fair to say that we are not your typical regulatory bureaucracy,” he says. “We’re not just going to say no and kick back the applications and see if somebody brings up a better rocket. We really want industry to succeed.”


 ::thumbsup::

 ::clapping::
We are now where The Founders were when they faced despotism.