spiderplanet (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
spiderplanet) wrote2009-11-16 05:59 pm
spiderplanet) wrote2009-11-16 05:59 pm
Private enterprise and their interest in space travel.
First, a link to an article entitled “It’s time to remove US government from space operations”
Allow me to summarize.
"Space Expert" Jeff Manber, out of a deeply touching concern for thriftyness and for humanity, asserts that the private sector should have a more significant role in space travel because he believes that the private sector is more efficient, quick and robust than government entities. He also asserts that the American program Ares-1, the program to replace the Space Shuttle in missions to the ISS, Luna and Mars, while a significant technical achievement, does not clearly justify the billions of dollars in cost for a vehicle that won’t be available for astronaut/cosmonaut transport until 2017.
Jeff Manber is the Managing Director of the private sector Russian space company NPO Energia, the largest Russian manufacturer of Russian spacecraft and Space Station components.
Also involving the space expertise of Jeffrey Manber - In a presentation dated August of 2008, Jeffrey Manber discusses Asteroid Mining, which included some speculation on what the future of Asteroid Mining might be.
In a completely unrelated article, according to an article in New Scientist, the world is running out of some technologically essential resources including platinum, a vital component of catalytic converters and fuel cells.
I think that it sure would be a bummer if public funding got us 99.9% of the way to finding irreplaceable vital resources such as platinum, gold, antimony and and other precious metals in space, and then private enterprise stepped in to claim the spoils.
Good thing that will never happen.
Allow me to summarize.
"Space Expert" Jeff Manber, out of a deeply touching concern for thriftyness and for humanity, asserts that the private sector should have a more significant role in space travel because he believes that the private sector is more efficient, quick and robust than government entities. He also asserts that the American program Ares-1, the program to replace the Space Shuttle in missions to the ISS, Luna and Mars, while a significant technical achievement, does not clearly justify the billions of dollars in cost for a vehicle that won’t be available for astronaut/cosmonaut transport until 2017.
Jeff Manber is the Managing Director of the private sector Russian space company NPO Energia, the largest Russian manufacturer of Russian spacecraft and Space Station components.
Also involving the space expertise of Jeffrey Manber - In a presentation dated August of 2008, Jeffrey Manber discusses Asteroid Mining, which included some speculation on what the future of Asteroid Mining might be.
A Business Case for Asteroid Mining is the Model through which strategic partners, sources of capital, end-markets, regulatory issues, technology and the role of government(s) is justified such that the project is conceived as something other than a public program.
In a completely unrelated article, according to an article in New Scientist, the world is running out of some technologically essential resources including platinum, a vital component of catalytic converters and fuel cells.
It has been estimated that if all the 500 million vehicles in use today were re-equipped with fuel cells, operating losses would mean that all the world's sources of platinum would be exhausted within 15 years. Unlike with oil or diamonds, there is no synthetic alternative.
< snip >
The calculations are crude - they don't take into account any increase in demand due to new technologies, and also assume that current production equals consumption. Yet even based on these assumptions, they point to some alarming conclusions. Without more recycling, antimony, which is used to make flame retardant materials, will run out in 15 years, silver in 10 and indium in under five
I think that it sure would be a bummer if public funding got us 99.9% of the way to finding irreplaceable vital resources such as platinum, gold, antimony and and other precious metals in space, and then private enterprise stepped in to claim the spoils.
Good thing that will never happen.