Scaled Composites

Scaled Composites

Traveled to Mojave California yesterday, to watch something that should have happened twenty years ago... A Commercial Space shot. While it didn't go completely without a hitch, it went well enough to deliver the one-man crew in the SPACESHIP 1 rocket/glider into space and back.

Which brings us to the subject of this blog... Why did it only take a $10M purse to inspire a team to come together to build this space ship? This technology has the potential of making many new space related technologies possible, why didn't NASA offer the $10M purse to get them out of their innovation slump?

I have always contended that the Government's role in acquiring technology is to reduce the risk to the private sector business. When technology is customized for Government use, the Government should pay for the customization, if the technology is so old that it's not profitable for a private sector company to support, the Government should pay. Basic research, like that done in the 60's to support NASA, is a perfect application of Government spending, the Space Shuttle wasn't as good. Yesterday Burt Rutan demonstrated that the risk for space flight has been reduced to the extent that industry can do it. That's great news for us tax payers, this event indicates that our technology is now mature enough to make money, allowing NASA to go back to its basic research mission.