What happened to the Space Council?
I find it hard to get worked up about it. As Dwayne notes, the history of the utility of a space council isn’t encouraging. If civil space were important, we wouldn’t need one, and since it isn’t, one can understand why the White House doesn’t want to have one more clamoring voice at the table.
Also, Jeff Foust has a more detailed report of last Monday’s events in Mojave, and a book review of The Extraterrestrial Imperative. Other people have told me that it doesn’t do justice to Ehricke’s work and legacy.
It seems the spaceplane being panned by the former ESA directors was from Bristol Spaceplanes. I remember the Germans pushing something similar (Saenger TSTO) a decade ago. Arrr…
I think Dwayne gives the Administration way too much credit for thinking about a space council at all. Appointing Charles Bolden was probably the one and only instance of them thinking about the space program. It isn’t that big a deal to almost anyone else; how could we expect an administration actively hostile to technology to have paid any attention to it?
his overall imperative—exploring space to tap its resources for the betterment of all humanity—has failed to become a core part of national space policy.
I’d say because making profit is not the business of government (especially the current one) that’s what free enterprise is about.
We need more billionaires with the long view.