Wednesday
(0)There is now a web site for the commission which is to create the implementation plan for the new space policy. We would like to see them relying on private sector developments for transport and for lunar exploration and settlement.
Times are changing. We have a major policy opportunity. We can quite possibly move things in our preferred direction: private operation. Although it is lovely to talk about how we would do space exploration in a perfect libertarian society, we do not live in that world. We have to deal realistically with the hand we have been dealt.
I think we have at least a couple pairs going into this one.
The Lunar-Mars Initiative is acquiring the nickname inside the beltway of "The No Planet Left Behind" Initiative.
Posted by Jim Bennett at February 11, 2004 04:47 AM
The X-prize is the space race. This moon-mars thing is the space show. Assuming all goes to plan, expect stirring speeches and historic moments. And then they'll all go home again.
Posted by Julian Morrison at February 11, 2004 05:59 AM
I can't disagree one bit. But then again, there was little with which to disagree. Are you running for office :)
Seriously, what sort of private sector initiatives do you imagine? So far as I understand, private sector is able to and does launch its own satelites. Is there currently any laws which prohibit, say, Microsoft sending a human to the moon or to Mars or wherever Windows can take you? Isn't the lack of private sector exploration etc outer-space exploration a most perfect example of the necessity for government intervention? i.e. the private market is legally able to send missions but doesn't because no one can figure out how to make money from them? No? You obviously follow this more than I do.
Posted by David Sucher at February 11, 2004 02:48 PM
Wasn't there a UN resolution or international agreement of some sort banning individual countries from claiming territory on extraterrestrial bodies?
If so, the private sector might not have sufficient incentives to mount an expedition to, say, Mars - why go if you can't exploit its natural resources when you get there?
Posted by Bombadil at February 11, 2004 05:58 PM
There is clearly legal work to do with regards to extraterrestrial ownership, contract law, and defense of property that can legitimately be done by the most minarchist of libertarian governments. But the US tradition of government exploration followed by private exploitation is a pretty long one starting with Lewis and Clark. As long as they don't go beyond that, this initiative has the potential to be something more than a checklist (got there, planted the flag, don't have to go there anymore) government program.
Posted by TM Lutas at February 11, 2004 07:21 PM
