Private Space Industry

So where are all the rocket ships the science fiction writers promised back in the early days of pulp science fiction and television. Where is the "world of tomorrow?" What happened to the ideas popularized by Robert Heinlein in his Future History? (Most of which can be found in Past Through Tomorrow) His idea was that governmental domination of space exploration and exploitation would be pushed aside in the interest of industry and commerce.

Heck I'm all for NASA and spending huge amounts of tax dollars sending stuff up into space to do hard science. I don't think that I could convince a majority of the populace to think that way. On the Right there is the need to cost and scope of government funded programs. On the left I often here people bemoaning the money as lost to education or poverty programs (not that any of that money would ever be put into either of those areas but people don't like to see billion dollar space ships when causes they believe in are under funded).

I found this CNN story by way of Mental Multivitamin. At first I was hopeful because I read the title wrong. Where the title says senator my mind read senate. Getting into the story I realized it was a Senator from a state where Space exploration employs people. With only one out spoken senator who has little choice but to promote the business of her state I see little chance of the Hubble being repaired. The mission of the telescope is pretty much complete as far as is it is politically expedient to let it fall into disrepair than try to drum up popular support for a very costly repair mission that will show no tangible results for the voting public.

I think this marks the point where government sponsored space programs are for ever on the decline and the only way we will ever know more about the solar system or the galaxy is for their to be some way for businesses to profit from it. I'm guessing that once some smart eccentric goof comes up with a way to make it profitable to mine celestial bodies for minerals and metals and transport em back to earth we will start to see some real developments in the fields of space travel and safety. Until then I can read old science fiction stories and dream about solar empires.

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