Emergency Funding

Tangoman: I agree with O'Neill's approach, that major space projects
should have benefits on Earth, and space settlements will bootstrap
from there. For $75 billion we could have an SSPS station and a
service colony. Once the benefits and profitability are demonstrated,
more funding, government or private, are likely to follow.
Now that Japan is planning an SSPS program, maybe we could
induce the US energy industry to take a serious look also. With the
energy industry well represented in the White House, maybe this is a
good time for some serious lobbying.

-Michael Mautner
Consider that the US Congress approved Bush's War Funding
Bill to
the order of approximately $75 Billion.

What do you think could be built in space with a one time
commitment
of $75 billion?

I'd like to think that whatever is built would help
increase access
to space for others.

I'm open to all suggestions. Perhaps you may think that
the money is
best spent on Earth side R&D to lower launch costs. Maybe
you think
there should be a mission to mine a NEO or the moon.

What do you think?

TangoMan

of Service.Michael N. Mautner
Senior Research Fellow
Soil, Plant and Ecological Sciences Division
Lincoln University
Lincoln, New Zealand
Telephone (64) (3) 325-2811 ext 8352
Fax (64) (3) 325-3844
E-mail mautnerm@...

Senior Fellow
Department of Chemistry
University of Canterbury
Christchurch 8001
New Zealand
E-mail m.mautner@...