New to me, anyway. Via “Major Tom” commenting over at Space Politics, I saw for the first time Space Policy Online, run by long-time space policy analyst Marcia Smith. I’ve added it to the blogroll.
And speaking of that site, there’s a story about a hearing yesterday to confirm a new IG for NASA, in which Senator Rockefeller expressed concern about “waste, fraud and abuse” at NASA. Say it ain’t so! But I found this quite the head scratcher:
In wrapping up the hearing, the Senator referred to “constituencies in the world of NASA” who are “very ambitious” and that he goes “blooey” hearing about plans to “pay $1 million and travel to the Moon” and doesn’t know how to react.
Well, apparently he reacts by going “blooey.” What in the hell is he talking about?
Space tourism is my bet. Didn’t the Russians recently propose to offer flights about the moon for a million bucks? Seems clear to me the Senator doesn’t approve of using US taxpayers funds if it leads to that kind of socialistic nonsense.
I wish this damn state would divest itself of that socialist retard.
From the same site:
http://www.spacepolicyonline.com/pages/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=62&Itemid=30
As published in The Space Report 2009: The Authoritative Guide to Global Space Activity, worldwide space revenues in 2008 were $257 billion, an increase of 2.5% over 2007. This annual report from the U.S. Space Foundation tracks worldwide spending by governments, the private sector and consumers. According to the report’s free executive summary, this $257 billion “space economy” is comprised of the following segments:
* commercial satellite services, 35% ($91 billion)
* commercial space infrastructure (such as launch vehicles, satellites, ground stations, and in-space platforms) 32% ($81.97 billion)
* U.S. government space budgets, 26% ($66.63 billion);
* international government space budgets, 6% ($16.44 billion);
* infrastructure support industries, less than 1% ($1.14 billion), and
* space commercial transportation services, less than 1% ($0.04 billion).
If $257 billion does not constitute a significant market them I am not sure what does. If this were a country it would be in the top 20 of export earners.
Presumably New Space could get established on something like ~0.1% of this market size. This does seem to infer that this is an entry barrier problem.