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pan6467 · 03-21-2011, 03:14 AM

If you look at how important and how interested the populace is in space exploration, you cannot deny the need to keep a well funded NASA. Look how important Hubble has become and the space station. Look at how we built the Star Trek community and movies. The interest is there. NASA just needs to do what Supersix did and show the people exactly where the money goes and what their budget is. I have heard numerous people inside the government say that out of every government program, NASA is the most economically responsible. We need another "Mars Rover" or "moon mission" to truly regain the "hype" so to speak.

With space exploration, we should be selling optimism, and as mentioned above the possibility of a unified Earth interested in moving forward and reducing the burden we put on this planet.

But alas I am a Roddenberrian idealist in this area. Gene had it right, the future and destiny for a peaceful Earth is space exploration. Pure and simple. perhaps on one of the planets or asteroids we find diamonds and gold thus lowering the prices and making them more accessible to the people. I'm a rockhound Lapidarian, I would love to see rocks brought back to Earth from other space entities like asteroids or planets and moons.

As someone else above pointed out, I also believe we should be exploring more of our oceans depths. There because of the pressure and volcanic actions, we may find all sorts of what we believe to be "rare" gems and precious metals among things we have no idea existed. Our oceans depths maybe richer in what we find scientifically than we would in space.

Do you think that the private sector should be governed by existing government-run space programs? Yes, I do. It is the nature of the corporate beast to cut corners at the safety of the people in the name of profit. An oversight committee that is subsidized by the privatized companies should be put into place. This committee should have the leadership appointed by Congress or a third party.

What do you think a government's role should be in space exploration and development?
I believe it is vitally important for the government to continue a space program that inspires optimism and hope. In order to do this we need to increase educational spending at a higher rate. This would be an extremely hard sell in these economic times. We need to give more grants to and more put more emphasis on areas such as astrophysics, astronomy, the sciences and math. We can't have people working at NASA or in companies that can barely do algebra 2/ trigonometry or have no clue what NaCl+H2O is. They (the government) could also develop tax credits if the "privatized" contracted companies offered scholarships and tuition help for people wanting to go into these fields. The upside to all this would be a better educated, higher tech population. With more marketable skills and disciplines. It would increase job growth, wages and thus a new tax base that would eventually pay the investment the government and companies put in back with interest. But again, you'd have to use a damned good sales pitch and projections and have people that truly believed in this to be the spokespeople selling it to the citizenry.

What kinds of controls do you think should be in place for private space endeavors?
An oversight committee subsidized by the private companies for safety and quality assurances. Professional testing for pilots and crew make sure they are healthy and qualified to be there. Make rules that any entity cannot be claimed as "private" or "owned" by a specific government or people.I find that that rule of law would be out of necessity because we would eventually see colony wars and wars here for that "land". It's in human history and nature to fight over land and mineral rights. May as well try to stem that possibility off before it happened.

Should anything off of our globe be considered free for a claim?
No. As I stated in the last question to do so would probably end in wars and loss of life. This is one area I'm pessimistic in given our history here on Earth.And what happens if by some miracle we find life on an asteroid or planet? Do we treat them as our ancestors treated the Native Americans when the new world was first discovered and as we moved Westward? My feeling is that if we allowed free claim that would be a possibility.

All that said, we would have to have a system of incentives for the private sector to truly go into that business. My proposal would be 50 year land and mineral rights for a set fee or percentage of the find, that would be used to fund the sciences and a "policing" security that would make sure the laws were followed.

I have for a long time believed if industry wants more freedoms and less taxes than they should set up third parties that police themselves. It's much like the origins of the FDA, the EPA, the FAA, the FCC and so on. Not trying to be political just historical..... the one bad thing that we are still paying for during the Reagan years is that he made all those more government funded than privately funded, which was what they were supposed to be, privately funded entities. Which burdened the taxpayers more.

Do you expect private companies to exploit the resources of any heavenly body they encounter?
Absolutely. There has to be incentive for them to go "out" there. No doubt in my mind that as long as there is greed in man there will always be exploitation. Look at the countries here on Earth that exploit their peoples. The companies that exploit their workers and if an accident like the BP Gulf affair occurs, bury it and spin it to the best of your ability. That's just present day, our history shows that we will exploit anything for greed. Whether it be individual, corporate or imperialistic, exploitation is a given. How can you possible police space, if the government won't finance it?

03-21-2011, 03:14 AM	#13 (permalink)
pan6467 Lennonite Priest Location: Mansfield, Ohio USA	If you look at how important and how interested the populace is in space exploration, you cannot deny the need to keep a well funded NASA. Look how important Hubble has become and the space station. Look at how we built the Star Trek community and movies. The interest is there. NASA just needs to do what Supersix did and show the people exactly where the money goes and what their budget is. I have heard numerous people inside the government say that out of every government program, NASA is the most economically responsible. We need another "Mars Rover" or "moon mission" to truly regain the "hype" so to speak. With space exploration, we should be selling optimism, and as mentioned above the possibility of a unified Earth interested in moving forward and reducing the burden we put on this planet. But alas I am a Roddenberrian idealist in this area. Gene had it right, the future and destiny for a peaceful Earth is space exploration. Pure and simple. perhaps on one of the planets or asteroids we find diamonds and gold thus lowering the prices and making them more accessible to the people. I'm a rockhound Lapidarian, I would love to see rocks brought back to Earth from other space entities like asteroids or planets and moons. As someone else above pointed out, I also believe we should be exploring more of our oceans depths. There because of the pressure and volcanic actions, we may find all sorts of what we believe to be "rare" gems and precious metals among things we have no idea existed. Our oceans depths maybe richer in what we find scientifically than we would in space. Do you think that the private sector should be governed by existing government-run space programs? Yes, I do. It is the nature of the corporate beast to cut corners at the safety of the people in the name of profit. An oversight committee that is subsidized by the privatized companies should be put into place. This committee should have the leadership appointed by Congress or a third party. What do you think a government's role should be in space exploration and development? I believe it is vitally important for the government to continue a space program that inspires optimism and hope. In order to do this we need to increase educational spending at a higher rate. This would be an extremely hard sell in these economic times. We need to give more grants to and more put more emphasis on areas such as astrophysics, astronomy, the sciences and math. We can't have people working at NASA or in companies that can barely do algebra 2/ trigonometry or have no clue what NaCl+H2O is. They (the government) could also develop tax credits if the "privatized" contracted companies offered scholarships and tuition help for people wanting to go into these fields. The upside to all this would be a better educated, higher tech population. With more marketable skills and disciplines. It would increase job growth, wages and thus a new tax base that would eventually pay the investment the government and companies put in back with interest. But again, you'd have to use a damned good sales pitch and projections and have people that truly believed in this to be the spokespeople selling it to the citizenry. What kinds of controls do you think should be in place for private space endeavors? An oversight committee subsidized by the private companies for safety and quality assurances. Professional testing for pilots and crew make sure they are healthy and qualified to be there. Make rules that any entity cannot be claimed as "private" or "owned" by a specific government or people.I find that that rule of law would be out of necessity because we would eventually see colony wars and wars here for that "land". It's in human history and nature to fight over land and mineral rights. May as well try to stem that possibility off before it happened. Should anything off of our globe be considered free for a claim? No. As I stated in the last question to do so would probably end in wars and loss of life. This is one area I'm pessimistic in given our history here on Earth.And what happens if by some miracle we find life on an asteroid or planet? Do we treat them as our ancestors treated the Native Americans when the new world was first discovered and as we moved Westward? My feeling is that if we allowed free claim that would be a possibility. All that said, we would have to have a system of incentives for the private sector to truly go into that business. My proposal would be 50 year land and mineral rights for a set fee or percentage of the find, that would be used to fund the sciences and a "policing" security that would make sure the laws were followed. I have for a long time believed if industry wants more freedoms and less taxes than they should set up third parties that police themselves. It's much like the origins of the FDA, the EPA, the FAA, the FCC and so on. Not trying to be political just historical..... the one bad thing that we are still paying for during the Reagan years is that he made all those more government funded than privately funded, which was what they were supposed to be, privately funded entities. Which burdened the taxpayers more. *Do you expect private companies to exploit the resources of any heavenly body they encounter?* Absolutely. There has to be incentive for them to go "out" there. No doubt in my mind that as long as there is greed in man there will always be exploitation. Look at the countries here on Earth that exploit their peoples. The companies that exploit their workers and if an accident like the BP Gulf affair occurs, bury it and spin it to the best of your ability. That's just present day, our history shows that we will exploit anything for greed. Whether it be individual, corporate or imperialistic, exploitation is a given. How can you possible police space, if the government won't finance it? __________________ I just love people who use the excuse "I use/do this because I LOVE the feeling/joy/happiness it brings me" and expect you to be ok with that as you watch them destroy their life blindly following. My response is, "I like to put forks in an eletrical socket, just LOVE that feeling, can't ever get enough of it, so will you let me put this copper fork in that electric socket?"