The future of the US space programme

[Provolution]

I say we spin off NASA and turn it into a quasi independent, for profit, commercial entity. Sort of like an 'East India Company' for space.

I second that, I want that dark corporate sci fi vision to become a reality, and this is the way to go. Much better than some nutty social democrat vision, they got nothing to do up there, they should worry about tiny regulations, not big matters for real men.

 

[Nobody]

maybe the debt thing is = WHen the people are poor the vote for democrats when the people are rich they vote for republicans so the party in goverment follows the economic cycle not the other way around

 

[Bozo Erectus]

The East India Company only survived because it relied on the resources provided by the English colonies in Asia. There are no plunderable resources in space (with a few notable exceptions). NASA is fit for exploration and developing of cutting edge technology, not sustainable development.

Theres no tea or tobacco in space, but there alot of other resources. From what I hear theres enough iron in your average asteroid to satisfy our needs for ten years, or something like that. NASA has the capability to go out there and get those resources, but it doesnt have the funding, and at the moment, thats not its job. Private investment would provide the venture capital to a 'NASA INC'.

@provo, in space nobody can hear you scream at liberals

 

[MattII]

Reagen spent a lot on nuclear weapons to bankrupt the Soviet Union, and it worked.

 

[IglooDame]

Reagen spent a lot on nuclear weapons to bankrupt the Soviet Union, and it worked.

So is the US bankrupting some other country, or are they bankrupting us?

 

[Winner]

I say we spin off NASA and turn it into a quasi independent, for profit, commercial entity.

Something like ESA?

 

[MarineCorps]

When we start launching big warships with weapons on them into space then I'll pay attention to what happens in the blackness of space. But not a moment sooner.

 

[Neonanocyborgasm]

I don't see a lot of hope in NASA for the future. There's really no initiative to come up with better space technology. Rather, there's the endless recycling of the same thing, over and over again. Private ventures, such as Scaled Composites, accomplished more in less time and with less money than NASA has ever done. The only time NASA has been innovative is when the executive branch has pressed it, such as with the Saturn missions to the moon. Once that pressure eased, NASA was content to keep its job within the status quo.

So, I see private companies being at the forefront of space development in the future.