One of the reasons that I’d like to live in the DC area is be able to attend events like this one. Clark Lindsey did, and has notes.
One thought on “Commercial Space Symposium”
I was also at the meeting. I do have some interesting reactions. First, this was an AIAA organized and run event. I am today a very happy AIAA member. I think the organization is far more in touch with reality than, say, the Mars Society. We also do far more good. At this event establishment people actually said the odds were not good for Ares to succeed. The last “successful” rocket development was shuttle — and that development did not live up to its early hype. There was also quite a bit said by the new upstarts. Dave Thompson, CEO of Orbital and AIAA President, has described Orbital as the oldest of the New Space companies.
I will make one other comment. The session was closed with a talk by Charles Miller. He discussed NACA and how it came into being and what it did. It was good as far as it went. I, personally, would have discussed at much greater length the cultural differences between early NACA and NASA and the industry. Early NACA worked with industry. That industry was made up of a variety of independent firms — not government contractors. That makes a huge difference. New ideas are more likely to surface and be tested when there are a variety of ways for new ideas to come to the fore than when there is one dominant bureaucracy that is heavily into control and rejecting of ideas that were “Not Invented Here.”
I was also at the meeting. I do have some interesting reactions. First, this was an AIAA organized and run event. I am today a very happy AIAA member. I think the organization is far more in touch with reality than, say, the Mars Society. We also do far more good. At this event establishment people actually said the odds were not good for Ares to succeed. The last “successful” rocket development was shuttle — and that development did not live up to its early hype. There was also quite a bit said by the new upstarts. Dave Thompson, CEO of Orbital and AIAA President, has described Orbital as the oldest of the New Space companies.
I will make one other comment. The session was closed with a talk by Charles Miller. He discussed NACA and how it came into being and what it did. It was good as far as it went. I, personally, would have discussed at much greater length the cultural differences between early NACA and NASA and the industry. Early NACA worked with industry. That industry was made up of a variety of independent firms — not government contractors. That makes a huge difference. New ideas are more likely to surface and be tested when there are a variety of ways for new ideas to come to the fore than when there is one dominant bureaucracy that is heavily into control and rejecting of ideas that were “Not Invented Here.”
On the whole, a good effort of much worth.