Companies Skeptical of Commercial Space Market 192
Hugh Pickens writes "The NY Times reports that Boeing and Lockheed Martin will happily sell rockets to carry astronauts into space, but are leery about taking a leading role in President Obama's vision for a revamped NASA that relies on commercial companies to provide taxi transportation to the ISS. 'I don't think there is a business case for us,' says Lockheed Martin's John Karas about space taxis. Both Boeing and Lockheed were stung during the last burst of optimism for the commercial space business about a decade ago. They invested several billion dollars — Lockheed to develop its Atlas V, Boeing for the Delta IV — in the hopes that the huge market for commercial satellites would supplement their traditional business of launching American military spy satellites. The market did not materialize, and what business there was went to European and Russian rockets that were cheaper. The hoped-for commercial market for space taxis hinges on one small company, Bigelow Aerospace, which is developing inflatable space habitats that it hopes to market as research facilities to companies and foreign nations looking to establish a space program."
fish tanks (Score:3, Funny)
Thanks America! (Score:3, Funny)
A big thank you to America (and yes, Russia too) for getting us started on this whole space thingamajig. I think Europe and Asia can take over now. So long, and thanks for all the fish!
Re:How to tell (Score:3, Funny)
Sounds like we should be letting them bleed themselves dry. If they want to give us a massive discount, no skin off our noses.
Re:Government is Clueless about Business (Score:2, Funny)
There is an easy solution to the problem of government budgets. Amongst male administrators of any sort, public or private, budget size is a surrogate for penis length, while staff size is a surrogate for penis girth. Obviously most male administrators suffer from feelings of inadequacy and constantly wish to increase the size and girth of their penis-surrogate. At this point, the solution should be obvious to all: hire only men with monster horse-cocks. They understand full well how painful it is for us to fit that thing into our tight little budget. They have no need for a big surrogate, they've got the real thing.
I'm sure some feminists will claim this is proof we should hire women as administrators, and to them I will just say, ladies, I've got a real big budget and a huge staff for you, right here.