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The problem with a central authority
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Posted by Dennis Wingo () at 05:02 GMT on 17 Mar 2001


Bob

I am going to help you out and kick this off with my principal problem with the ISS Authority type of approach.

You and I and Jim Muncy have had this discussion before but recent events are reinforcing my opinion. The current article by Brian Berger of Spacenews/space.com

http://www.space.com/news/spaceagencies/koptev_tito_010315.html

illustrates the problem. Even more to the point is another article that has the following excerpt.

*********************************************************************

A former Russian space official familiar with the discussions said a draft of the agreement prepared by NASA requires that all crew members, including space tourists, undergo training and pass medical checks and qualification exams before they could be cleared to visit the space station.

The former official, who asked not to be named, said NASA could attempt to veto Tito’s flight on health grounds if Rosaviacosmos signs this version of the agreement.

*********************************************************************

If there is some centralized authority that has absolute rule over access to ISS by all partners then the above will be the result.

In this article

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/goldin_tito_010315.html

Goldin says that people have to pay a much higher price than Tito's reported $20M dollars. This is a bad way to run a railroad. Competition is the key to the success of commercialization on ISS not a centralized bureaucratic system that is set up in such a way that there is no appeal to the decision.

Competition is the key to the success of our business world in lowering costs and promoting activity. If we remove this then we are doomed and there will be no incentive to commercialization.

Earlier in the article Goldin says that the space tourist must pay a substantially higher price than the $20M that Tito is paying. Where in the hell does he get off in trying to set that price? Those of us in the know, know how much it costs to launch a Soyuz. The taxi mission was part of the Russian contribution to ISS and if they can recapture even a portion of their costs then it is a net gain to them. Their entire program is only budgeted at $150M dollars and if they send up two per year at $20M each then that is equivalent to ~25% of their entire budget. If NASA is really interested in Russia remaining in the project then they would embrace the space tourist.

Also, don't give me this crap about use of resources. The maximum resources that Tito or any individual would use is less than 100 kilos. They also would be the best ambassadors for the program in the world.

Dennis


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Follow-Ups:

Re: The dvantages of a central authority Bob Werb (17 Mar 2001 18:46 GMT)
   Re: The advantages of a central authority Bob Werb (17 Mar 2001 18:48 GMT)
   Re: The dvantages of a central authority Dennis Wingo (18 Mar 2001 02:35 GMT)
      Bill of Rights? Edward Wright (20 Mar 2001 23:52 GMT)
         Re: Bill of Rights? Bob Werb (21 Mar 2001 00:29 GMT)
         Re: Bill of Rights? Dennis Wingo (21 Mar 2001 01:37 GMT)
            Re: The people in power Bob Werb (21 Mar 2001 15:51 GMT)
               Re: The people in power Dennis Wingo (22 Mar 2001 02:51 GMT)
                  Fifteenth Space Studies Institute/Princeton Conference Bob Werb (18 Apr 2001 22:18 GMT)


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