Orbital Economy

> Besides, the actual 'work" of assembling satellites
> and the jobs they create is a valuable part of a
> high tech economy.,,, and many times is one of the
> secondary excuses for specding the money as well....
> why do you think that the components for these
> things come from around different political
> precincts...:-)

While there is *some* truth in your statement of
politics, in the commercial world I think this is less
so. A satellite like Sirius or XM could care less
about politics and just wants to insure that the
satellite gets built to perform the job at hand.
Building and assembling a satellite is damn
complicated and really pushes the limits of our
technology. That is why you see that an aerospace
company employing a large number of phds and masters.

That being said, each government *does* want to insure
that it has people who know how to make these
complicated objects. Thats why almost every nation
attempts to have some in-house satellite manufacturing
program. This is done because national security is
linked to the ability to build and operate space
assets.

Ryan Z