The Role of Private Enterprise in Putting Man into Space - Part
1
Has NASA failed in it's quest to put man out into the cosmos?
Will profit coupled with man's need to explore be the driving
engine which sends man into space? Most importantly, will the
United States be a leader in terms of space exploration, or will
America fall by the wayside and let other countries fulfill this
role?
In this article, I will attempt to answer these questions. I
will also provide an argument which favors an active role of
private enterprise in putting true explorers into space. The
United States can get back to it's foundation of innovation and
exploration, but in order to so, it must follow a new course,
one which is distinctly different from the path it has followed.
Innovation, invention, and exploration are key components which
have made America one of the greatest countries in the world.
The question is this. Did most of these inventions and
innovations take place within the purview of government
intervention? The fact is that most innovations within the
United States have taken place outside the realm of government.
Think about some of the major innovations that have occurred
within the American society over the past 100 years or so.
Was Orville and Wilbur Wright, the inventors of the airplane,
employed by the government? Of course not. Most of their
research and development for the invention of the airplane took
place within a small bike shop in western Dayton, Ohio, the
birth place of aviation. The invention of the airplane did not
take place within an extensively funded government lab. Orville
and Wilbur Wright were just a couple of self-taught engineers
who loved to think about how man can fly. Their invention made
the world a forever smaller place.
Thomas Edison, who is accredited with 1,093 patents earning him
the nickname "The Wizard of Menlo Park" used his own money to
build the Menlo Park research labs in New Jersey. In 1889,
Thomas Edison established the Edison General Electric Company.
Thomas Edison is considered one of the most prolific inventors
of our time and his inventions were created within the realm of
private enterprise.
The invention of the personal computer came from an assortment
of various inventions by many people, mostly within academia,
with a major contribution from Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.
Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak tinkered in Job's garage in an area
now called Silicon Valley, the southern part of the San
Francisco Bay Area in northern California. Their tinkering led
to the development of Apple Computers in 1976, and they helped
popularize the concept of the home computer. Steve Jobs was one
of the first to see the commercial potential of the GUI and
mouse, and saw that these technologies were incorporated into
the Apple Macintosh. The garage in which they tinkered belonged
to Steve Job's parents, not the United States government.
Did the seed for the invention of the personal computer
germinate within a government lab? John Vincent Atanasoff is
considered the actual father of the electronic computer.
Atanasoff was an Associate Professor of Physics at Iowa State
University in 1939 when he came up with his idea of a computer.
Many other inventions would be needed in order to produce what
we now recognize as a computer, but he is considered to be the
one who started it all. The point is he came up with his idea
within academia, and not within the purview of government
intervention.
The story of Bill Gates and the development of the Microsoft
family of operating systems took place within private
enterprise. The Windows family of operating systems is the most
widely used on earth and has been a major player in bringing
information technology to the developed world.
The story of Henry Ford is equally impressive. Contrary to
popular belief, Henry Ford did not invent the automobile. He
wasn't even close. Daimler and Benz are traditionally credited
with building the first cars in 1886 in Germany. Ford actually
perfected the assembly line technique. This allowed for a
drastic drop in production cost, bringing a rich man's toy
within reach of the masses, thereby changing Western society.
Henry Ford's development of the assembly line technique also
took place within private enterprise, outside the purview of
government.
Americans are inventors, innovators, and tinkerers. Freedom of
thought and exploration are woven within the fabric of our
society. Whether it be the airplane, computer, or major advances
in medicine, many inventions that are enjoyed by man today, had
their development in the United States, outside the purview of
government. Most of these innovations occurred within academia
or private enterprise. The role of government is to govern the
people. From Wikipedia, in its broadest sense, "govern" means
the power to administrate, whether over an area of land, a set
group of people, or an association.
The government's role is to preserve the environment of freedom
and democracy so that intellectual curiosity can flourish within
this environment. The government's role is also to provide
funding, and should not be in the nuts and bolts operation of
putting man into space. The ingenuity of man within the realm of
private enterprise and academia, has resulted in most of the
technological advancements we enjoy today, and to explore space,
we will need technological advancements.
The cosmos will be explored by man operating from the base of
private enterprise and the technology needed to explore the
cosmos will be developed within that enterprise. Why is this so?
NASA is an agency driven by fear of tragedy. More mishaps will
decrease the probability of sufficient government funding. This
cycle of fear, mishaps, and the hope for continual funding is
one that seems to have no end.
But mishaps are part of the business of putting explorers into
space. What can better withstand the expected mishaps? A
government agency or private enterprise. If a private enterprise
fails, it's competitor can step in to fill the gap, and the
engine of private enterprise can continue to push man into
space. NASA is not a private enterprise competing within the
world market place. If NASA is the only entity for space
exploration and it fails, there is nothing else to fill in the
gap.
NASA is not what it used to be during the Apollo days. Given
it's current mind set and culture, it will be difficult within
this framework to send man out into the cosmos as true
explorers. They have given the nuts and bolts of putting man
into space to private contractors. If private contractors are
actually putting man into space, then the next logical step is
for companies within private enterprise to step in and meet the
need for space exploration.
The basic problem with current NASA contractors is that they
have the same NASA mind set because they are under the dominion
of NASA. There is a fear of mishaps within contractors without
true competition within the market place. NASA awards contracts
to the lowest bidder. But does the lowest bidder provide the
highest level of safety? Once a company is awarded a contract,
they remain a NASA contractor for many years and simply become
an extension of NASA. NASA has become an autocratic agency with
it's arms extending outward to many companies.
Currently, NASA's manned space flight program can do no more
then low earth orbit. Year after year of low earth orbit does
not excite the American people. Astronauts today are no longer
household names. An American president here and there will give
a speech saying we are going to Mars. Even President Bush's
January 14, 2004 speech seems to have already been forgotten by
the American public.
When we went to the moon this was the start of an exploration. A
goal was set on May 25, 1961 by President John F. Kennedy,
during a speech before a Joint Session of Congress, to reach the
moon before the end of the decade. NASA kicked into high gear
and achieved one of the greatest accomplishments in the history
of mankind. We took the first step into space and then just
stopped. Since then all of the manned space missions have never
gone beyond low earth orbit, and the American public becomes
bored easily.
For NASA to gain the American interest and support of the Apollo
days, they must send true explorers out into space. NASA wants
to take such small, time consuming incremental steps that by the
time comes when the really exciting work begins, the American
support and interest may be eroded to the point where NASA may
no longer have the financial means by which to accomplish such
an endeavor. If we are going to go into the cosmos, then lets do
it and stop the futile activity.
A private enterprise is not a bureaucracy. If safety issues
arise from qualified personnel within a bureaucracy, these
issues may not resonate to the proper people within the
organization. A case in point is the Challenger disaster. On
January 28, 1986, just over a minute into their flight from Cape
Canaveral in Florida, the Space Shuttle Challenger blew up. The
knowledge of a strong potential for a O-ring failure, at low
temperatures, between the segments of the solid rocket boosters
of the space shuttle, existed within the bureaucracy of NASA
before the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion.
More specifically, this critical information in terms of
probability of O-ring compromise was expressed by engineers at
Morton Thiokol, the contractor for the development and
production of the solid rocket boosters. This highly critical
information never percolated upward from Morton Thiokol to the
proper people within the NASA organization. This information was
filtered out within the NASA bureaucracy.
Information transfer within a bureaucracy must pass through
several levels and stoppage can occur at any level due to an
individual deciding that the information is not significant. Or,
by the time the information reaches the right people, the degree
of criticality may be gone. The information that the engineers
originally wanted to express may appear less critical. In a
bureaucracy, to many people make to many decisions.
This completes part 1 of the article "The Role of Private
Enterprise in Putting Man into Space." To read the second half
of this article, go to "The Role of Private Enterprise in
Putting Man into Space - Part 2."