Large scale lunar&NEO programs and Hypothetica

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> For Germany and the UK, one significant problem that I can see is
finding
> a launch site. Germany would either have to enter into co-operation with
> another nation or launch from a sea platform of some kind. The UK has
> various small island possessions in the Caribbean and pacific and Indian
> oceans. I don't know if any of these are large enough or close enough to
> the equator to be useful. The French have retained colonial rule over a
> small portion of north America: : french guyana. This has existing launch
> facilities that are curently dedicated to Ariane. This would give the
> French a head start, even though the German and British governments
> probably have more disposable government income.

It seems that recently (since last year) the United States has been studying
an agreement with the Brazilian government to use the Alcntara launch
facility, in the northeast of Brazil. It is less than 5 degrees south of the
Equator, if I remember correctly...

> I considered the possibility that a smaller economy like Holland, Sweden,
> Norway, Australia, Canada, Russia, Brazil or even South Africa could
> support such a program out of their government budgets, as long as
> expendature did not exceed $2-3Billion/year.
>

As you may have suspected, I'm Brazilian, and I think that my country would
have the money. (For example, our GDP is around 1.0 trillion dollars, not
much bellow the 1.3 trillion dollar GDP of France.) However, I think that
such a program would have *NO* popular support by the Brazilian population.
The average Brazilian is used to think of space as an outlandish place that
exists only in sci-fi movies; and, if presented to the idea of spending
government money with space, he or she would protest against it, saying that
the country has much more urgent needs (and I would have to agree, at least
partially). Even our modest space program to develop a satellite launch
vehicle is often criticized by many, and it survives with a very small
funding... On the other hand, Brazilians in general think that it is
beneficial to attract foreign money in any possible way, for example by
renting our launch facilities...

>
> Tony
[snikt]

Lucio