A lobbying window of opportunity

> I am hesitant to think that what we need is a race. I
> tend to support the idea behind the ISS, though not
> the implementation.

What idea? Let's create a space station for everyone; by which we mean
you, you and you. Everyone else needn't apply.

You support that?

I despise the idea behind the ISS; the implementation is OK, but it's
not nearly as good as it could be because the idea is so flawed. It's
the same problem with the shuttle. NASA just doesn't get it.

> Having a race between commercial interests is good for
> commercial services (commsats and the like) but I do
> not believe this mentality is a beneficial for public
> services (look at the current landsat mess today).

Agreed, pretty much. But I don't think that public services have a welk
in a supernova's chance of opening up the high frontier. The point about
commercial services is that they can grow exponentially. Governments
cannot, since they live off taxation. We need launch volume to bring the
price of space access down- that's the primary driver; more so than any
technology, we need exponential growth.

Perhaps if SPS was cheaper, but it isn't. The only plausible route I see
right now is tourism; and that's not an easy route either, and it's not
one the government should do more to/for than tax, and even then, not yet.