Space Cowboys, On a Leash

I was pleased that SpaceShipOne won that 10 million earlier this week.  Private individuals soaring into the realm of space.  But, reality is dogging their heels.

"The rules that will govern the industry in the United States remain under discussion between federal regulators and rocket developers, and legislation is still before Congress.

The pace of negotiations and the ultimate shape of the regulations could determine whether the sky-high enthusiasm for space tourism — fueled by the historic suborbital flights of SpaceShipOne — grows or wanes, especially among investors."

Did you catch that?  "The rules that will govern the industry...."

“Space Tourism Faces Safety Regulations."

Posted by on 10/07 at 05:31 AM

  1. Despite the happy-atheists fanatasies about living in the make-believe world of Captain Kirk and the Star Ship Enterprise, TLOP is going to have a lot more to say about “regulating” this industry than any government will.

    Posted by  on  10/07  at  10:11 AM

  2. True enough, but that doesn’t make it right to handicap it.

    The laws of physics are just background, and those who figure out how to employ them can eventually do anything permitted by them, which certainly includes putting around the solar system.  In doing so, they don’t make TLOP more powerful, or burdensome to others, or change the laws.

    That isn’t true for those who have to wield government to achieve their goals.

    Posted by Andy Stedman  on  10/08  at  09:01 AM

  3. I agree with everything you said Mr. Stedman.

    But the point I was trying to make is that there is no need for space travel because there is no place worth traveling to. Nor does it appear that there ever will be.

    Number of known planets (destinations) in the entire Milky way galaxy capable of independently sustaining homo sapiens for prolonged periods = 1

    And before you start regaling me with tales of “Terraforming” Mars, explain how 1) you are going to create an artificial magnetic field (a necessity for life) and 2) explain how you are going to stabilize the rotational axis for the planet without a large moon?

    And I’m not even mentioning the fact that nothing will grow on Mars, that there are no fossil fuels there, and that mining will be all but impossible due to the extreme scarcity of the heavier (metal/fissionable) elements on Mars.

    Posted by  on  10/08  at  01:28 PM

  4. I can’t discard out of hand the idea that inhabiting space could, at some level of technology, be profitable or at least inexpensive enough for enthusiasts to have some fun.  The former (profitability), if it came about, would eventually drive the latter.

    Posted by Andy Stedman  on  10/08  at  03:34 PM

  5. A one week stay “in Space” beyond the protective shield of the Earth is about has hazardous to your health as smoking a pack of cigarettes every day for ten years.

    And that’s assuming you survive the trip there and back (about a 5% chance (currently) you won’t).

    Not to mention the fact that zero-gravity isn’t quite as much “fun” as the Atheists would have you believe. Most individuals are miserable in zero-gravity. Your sinuses don’t drain properly without the aid of gravity which causes severe headaches. Your digestive system doesn’t function to well without gravity either which causes severe stomach aches, vomiting, and motion sickness. Not to mention the massive bone and muscle loss. In short, homo sapiens just were not designed to live in Space.

    In fact, it is far easier for us to survive under water. But then again I don’t see lots of people paying big bucks to live under the ocean in a tiny prison cell for a week.

    Posted by  on  10/11  at  12:14 PM

  6. Haw! Good discussion of whether it is a good idea to go into suborbital space.
    Here’s my angle.  Compare today with the early days of flight, the days when a bunch of technophile men (and a few women), with an adventurous attitude, in a free market with no OSHA, no tort law tyranny and, as a matter of fact, some government support. They developed the American aircraft industry in this nation in the post WWI era. Before that time, except for the Wright Brother’s experiments, the Europeans, especially the French had been the pioneers. (Read Scott Berg’s “Lindberg” and Eric Bergeruad’s “Fire in the Sky” whose books partly cover the subject.) The carnage and the progress were unbelievable.
    Now compare those times with today. I heard no one protest when there was a big federal investigation followed by a big lawsuit based on the fact it wasn’t perfectly safe to send a school teacher into space in the Challenger. Now we’ve shut down the space program and won’t repair the Hubble Space Telescope because some tiles might come off.
    The Government doesn’t want to let people pay to ride rockets into space unless it is practically risk free. Now about the only dangerous thing left the Nannies won’t try to restrict is sodomy. 

    Posted by  on  10/11  at  06:07 PM

  7. I’ve always believed that “the Nannies” were inherently Gay.

    Posted by  on  10/12  at  08:38 AM

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