Ironic thing is that FAA regulations won't be enough to stop a coming space
toruism market. They'll just be enough to make the industry stillborn in
America, while other countries get a toehold on an emerging market.

"Rand Simberg" wrote in message
...
That's the title of my latest Fox column, on the chilling effect that
regulatory uncertainty may have on investment in private space. I
suggest taking AST out of the FAA:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,92840,00.html

And to prove my point, here's a story about Dennis Tito's testimony to
Congress yesterday, saying that he's ready to write a check, but not
until this issue is resolved:

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches...ns_030724.html

--
simberg.interglobal.org * 310 372-7963 (CA) 307 739-1296 (Jackson Hole)
interglobal space lines * 307 733-1715 (Fax) http://www.interglobal.org

"Extraordinary launch vehicles require extraordinary markets..."
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A very good article. Thank's for telling it like it is. How sad that it
would take an Act of Congress (I know. I know... corny) to get the AST back
out of the FAA. I almost believe that Lockmart may have aleady been
thinkingahead about cornering the launch vehicle market (even though the X33
was still a year away from inception), and may have actually wanted the AST
to be in FAA control, maybe even lobbied for it. This is extreme supposition
on my part, bordering on conspiracy rubbish, but if it is taken as a given
that Lockmart felt it could be flying VentureStars (or whatever precursing
beheamouth they had envisioned in the 94-95 timeframe),within a decade or
so, it could have easilly become the defacto launcher for all payloads in
the United States at a moderate to high cost. No one else would have been
able to compete because no one else would have had the money to get an RLV
with manned capability certified. That's just been my take on the "Why" of
that change in the Commerical Space Act. If such thinking was what was
behind the idea, (and I realize it's a longshot), then it was a disaster all
around.

Ironic thing is that FAA regulations won't be enough to stop the coming
private space industry. They'll just be enough to make the industry
stillborn in America, while other countries get a toehold on an emerging
market.