Article Summary #1

Article Citation:

                Panel weighs price of space launch range privatization. (2000). Defense Daily, 207(63), 1-1. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/234070804?accountid=285

Accessed: 1/9/12

Summary:

                Kerry Gildea, in her article regarding the privatization of US space/shuttle launch sites, depicts multiple arguments for and against the privatization and grazes over some of the possible implications of each argument. A group of people, called the Defense Science Board (DSB), have recently put together a plan to interweave both governmental and non-federal ownership involvement in the management and use of three major launches ranges in the US. Under the plan, the government would be responsible for "the range infrastructure and [in] carry[ing] out its fundamental responsibilities for public safety, ballistic missile testing and flight worthiness of civil and national security payloads" and the private sector would overlook "the operations of the future launch pads and launch and satellite vehicle processing and much of the range support functions through a joint Air Force/NASA base operations and support contract." However, the DSB hinted that no matter what happened there would still be a  fairly prevalent level of government involvement within the infrastructure of these launch facilities. The reason for the creation of this plan is that in the recent past, commercial launching has exceeded its previous quota, which has placed a strain on the Air Forces ability to use these facilities as well as maintain its infrastructure. The main argument against more control being given to the private sector is that it will give an unfair advantage to those with the most money, as they will be the only ones with means to achieve space travel because of its extremely expensive nature. However, industries argue almost the exact opposite. Their argument is that if space travel were to be commercialized, both competition and the drive to be as profitable  as possible would lead to reusable spacecrafts. Also, competition and profit desire would allow almost anyone in the United States access to space, as costs to travel  would be low enough to enable this. In the past, the cost of space was so high because the government wasn't using reusable ships and thus had to rebuild them every so often, which is incredibly expensive. But, if businesses were put in charge,  they would find a means to create much more durable space crafts, reducing the cost of space remarkably, allowing a much much greater percentage of the population access to space.