FAA Setting Up Commercial Spaceflight Center

coondoggie writes "The FAA this week took a step closer to setting up a central hub for the development of key commercial space transportation technologies such as space launch and traffic management applications and setting orbital safety standards. The hub, known as the Center of Excellence for Commercial Space Transportation, would have a $1 million yearly budget and tie together universities, industry players, and the government for cost-sharing research and development. The FAA expects the center to be up and running this year."

1 miilion??

[spiffmastercow]

Do you know how far 1 million dollars goes in a government project? They won't even have a building for 30 years at that rate.

$1 Million? Wha?

[johnthorensen]

$1 Million dollar budget? It's a nice gesture, but it seems pretty small for the responsibilities they're claiming this center to have. Seems more like a 'token' gesture made to *look* like they're doing something than taking real action to make things happen. That said, I'd rather see them save that money and get out of the way altogether...

Re:1 miilion??

[pspahn]

They had to get their paws on a new industry ahead of time. Think of it like Microsoft buying WebTV back in '97. Well, except I suppose that nobody actually ever used WebTV.

Re:1 miilion??

[Un pobre guey]

A rather apt analogy, actually.

Re:$1 Million? Wha?

[CrimsonAvenger]

$1 Million dollar budget? It's a nice gesture, but it seems pretty small for the responsibilities they're claiming this center to have. Seems more like a 'token' gesture made to *look* like they're doing something than taking real action to make things happen.

Sounds like someone's nephew needed a job that didn't require him to actually do much other than pick up his paycheck.

$1 million will about cover office space & equipment and salaries for someone's nephew, his secretary, and the office manager for the two of them....

Re:FAA? DONOTWANT

[selven]

I, for my part, am a libertarian, but that is a little extreme. The FAA should definitely have nothing to do with what goes on above 100km, but there are some aviation concerns that the FAA might need to handle. Things like discarded stages falling on people's heads, rockets crashing into (or at least spraying exhaust onto, or destabilizing the flight path of) planes flying through the rocket's launch trajectory and spacecraft landing (most designs involve making the craft into an airplane). There should be no regulations in space, but things going up and down are still passing through everyone else's airspace.