Robber Barons in Space

I was reminded in an article today
(http://www.spacedaily.com/news/salvage-03a.html) about the other
competitor to the original idea for working on satellites, orbital
recovery services. They are looking like they have a well developed
business plan in action already.

I don't suppose anyone here has any clue on how they plan on
connecting to a satellite's apogee kick motor?

In a way, I almost consider this a bad thing. It seems our space
program is getting more and more concentrated on keeping the status
quo and this program will push that. In the long run, with success
people will just continue to extend the life of their satellites,
keeping the demand for newer satellites and the push for newer
technologies down.

This is true in almost all aspects of the space program. Why make a
new rocket propulsion when we can jsut incrementally up ELVs? Why
push for a new manned vehicle when the Soyuz and Shuttle have shown
that they can handle the job? Why design better satellite
technology when we can just extend the life of those in orbit?

Great endeavors inspire great developments. Currently, I do not see
any projects on the horizon that are really pushing the envelop.
Maybe I'm being a little cynical cause it is a Monday but other then
nuclear propulsion, I am not seeing anything new in the next ten
years. And nuclear propulsion is still a big maybe.

-Ryan