NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #31/NN_1992_31.iso/spool/sci/space/18029

Text File | 1992-12-22 | 1.6 KB | 38 lines

Newsgroups: sci.space
Path: sparky!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!darwin.sura.net!udel!rochester!dietz
From: [e-mail] (Paul Dietz)
Subject: Re: Justification for the Space Program
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Organization: University of Rochester
References: <[e-mail]>
Distribution: sci
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 16:02:12 GMT
Lines: 26

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:
> One part of your discussion disturbs me.  Money can be accumulated, and
> horded, and stolen.  However, money must be MADE first.  I'm not a
...
> As to what this has to do with the justification of space, I would say that
> opportunities to MAKE money are abundant in space if the technology and
> resources are put to good use.  This, in turn, increases the cumulative
> wealth of the planet.


Yes, that's right.  The problem is that when space is actually
compared with more mundane ways of creating wealth on earth, it
doesn't look all that good.  Sure, there are some niches, like
communications (soon to face strong competition from fiber optics) and
position location.  But schemes for energy or material mined in space
are just too expensive, speculative, poorly justified and long term
for an investor to take seriously.

More generally, raw materials costs are a rather small and shrinking
fraction of GNP.  Focusing on them is to ignore the real driver of
competitive advantage, productivity.  We don't make better and cheaper
cars or computers by cramming more steel and coal into the factory; we
do it by being smarter in how we design and manufacture them.

    Paul F. Dietz
    [e-mail]