Solvency – General
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[____] The private sector is much more efficient and effective at exploring space than NASA.
Newt Gingrich, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and former speaker of the House of Presentatives, 6/14 2011, “Newt Gingrich on Space Exploration: 'NASA Is Standing in the Way'”, Fox News, http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/06/14/newt-gingrich-on-space-exploration-nasa-is-standing-in-way/
Well, sadly — and I say this sadly, because I'm a big fan of going into space and I actually worked to get the shuttle program to survive at one point — NASA has become an absolute case study in why bureaucracy can't innovate. If you take all the money we've spent at NASA since we landed on the moon and you had applied that money for incentives to the private sector, we would today probably have a permanent station on the moon, three or four permanent stations in space, a new generation of lift vehicles. And instead what we've had is bureaucracy after bureaucracy after bureaucracy, and failure after failure. I think it's a tragedy, because younger Americans ought to have the excitement of thinking that they, too, could be part of reaching out to a new frontier. You know, you'd asked earlier, John, about this idea of limits because we're a developed country. We're not a developed country. The scientific future is going to open up, and we're at the beginning of a whole new cycle of extraordinary opportunities. And, unfortunately, NASA is standing in the way of it, when NASA ought to be getting out of the way and encouraging the private sector.
[____] In order to best explore space we must take advantage of America’s entrepreneurs in the private sector.
National Space Society, 2005, Chapter of an ongoing series by the NSS on Space Transportation, “Chapter 5 Space Transportation,”
"The president is recognizing the fact that the best of our system is the private investment and private development of commercial capabilities of all types," the official said. "That is hopefully going to grow and bloom out here." 47 “To exploit space to the fullest extent requires a fundamental transformation in U.S. space transportation capabilities and infrastructure. In that regard, the United States Government must capitalize on the entrepreneurial spirit of the U.S. private sector, which offers new approaches and technology innovation in U.S. space transportation, options for enhancing space exploration activities, and opportunities to open new commercial markets, including public space travel. “Further, dramatic improvements in the reliability, responsiveness, and cost of space transportation would have a profound impact on the ability to protect the Nation, explore the solar system, improve lives, and use space for commercial purposes. While there are both technical and budgetary obstacles to achieving such capabilities in the near term, a sustained national commitment to developing the necessary technologies can enable a decision in the future to develop such capabilities.”
Solvency - General
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[____] Privatization solves better and accesses multiple sectors and technologies.
Phillip R. Harris, Research Associate at the California Space Institute, 07/2008, “Overcoming obstacles to private enterprise in space” Space Policy Vol 24 Issue 3 pg 124-127
As the Space Age matures and develops, it is my belief that it will be private enterprise that truly opens up the space frontier for commerce. The history of exploration confirms a pattern—a small number of explorers and traders move first into the new frontier; then governments take an interest in the territorial acquisition prospects, so military outposts are established, often with the help of missionaries, and a basic infrastructure emerges. But it is large commercial trading companies that bring settlement—as opposed to occasional visits—in the form of colonists seeking to improve their life prospects. The opening and development of the American frontier by Europeans demonstrates this pattern. Similarly with regard to outer space, it was the explorers in science fiction and the rocket enthusiasts who opened our minds to the possibilities beyond Earth. Then it was governments, like those of the USA and the USSR, which got into a competitive political race to use the opportunities in outer space. In the former country, space leadership came from two government agencies, the Department of Defense and NASA, both of whom employed civilian contractors. Pioneering astronauts and cosmonauts were usually from a military background, while the actual unmanned exploration resulted from civilian teams of scientists, engineers and academics. Growing from the birth and maturity of world-wide aviation, the big aerospace industry arose. And these big corporations innovated and succeeded in ventures to build rockets and spacecraft that could take humans to the Moon, or the far corners of the universe. Today, as NASA moves away from the Space Shuttle and towards development of a Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), there is still a general consensus that, when CEV operations begin, government will be responsible for the more difficult missions, such as spaceflights to the Moon and Mars, while giant aerospace contractors and entrepreneurs will most likely build a commercial presence.
Solvency – Colonization Affirmative
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[____] Earth proves that we need private companies in order to achieve true colonization of Mars.
Sam Dinkin, columnist for the Space Review, 7/26/2004, “Space Privatization: Road to Freedom,” http://www.thespacereview.com/article/193/1
With no privatization and no military protection, there will not be much colonization. Antarctica may be free of the intellectual pollution brought by property rights, but there are also no citizens, no development and very little in the way of commercial exports. Alaska, in contrast, hands out checks to its citizens rather than charging them taxes. Antarctica is also more inaccessible, so there may be another explanation for the disparity.
Texarkana offers a starker side-by-side comparison of different law leading to different levels of commerce. The city has a street running down the center of town where one side is governed by Arkansas law and the other is governed by Texas law. The main difference between the two jurisdictions is the ability to collect a high rate of interest (Arkansas caps their interest rate at 5% above the federal funds rate). This minor limitation on commerce means that there are many more stores on the Texas side of the street. But suppose for a moment that we do have the opportunity to create a viable space economy. Gagnon continues, “Thus, after the taxpayers have paid all the R&D, private industry now intends to gorge itself on profits. Taxpayers won’t see any return on our ‘collective investment.’” They are seeing little return now on their collective investment. Public returns will be great indeed if space development is successful. If privatization results in profits, those profits can be taxed. If private suborbital, orbital, point-to-point, lunar and planetary development lowers the price of access for public science, exploration and commerce, then that is a benefit. If colonization is successful, the public will have an insurance policy against extinction. Successful colonization will also energize the spirit of humanity. Colonizing Mars will double the amount of land available to the species and potentially more than double solar system GDP as a commerce of ideas and builds up between the growing Mars population and Earth.
[____] NASA is too bureaucratic to plan a mission to Mars, the private sector is needed.
C.A. Carberry et al, Executive Director of Explore Mars, Inc., November 2010, along with Artemis Westenberg, President, Explore Mars, Inc., and Blake Ortner, Project Leader, ISRU Challenge, Explore Mars, Inc., October-November 2010, “The Mars Prize and Private Missions to the Red Planet”, http://journalofcosmology.com/Mars139.html, AD: 6/27/11
Despite the fact that Virgle was just an extremely well executed hoax, it stimulated some very intriguing questions – most notably – would a corporate partnership or consortium like Virgle really be able to launch a private mission to Mars? There are many people who believe that a private mission to Mars is not only possible, but perhaps the only way that the United States will be able to get there (Joseph 2010). They feel that NASA has become too bureaucratic to develop an affordable human Mars mission; that a human mission would fall victim to a lack of long-term political will in Congress and cannot be carried through multiple Administrations. Despite his doubts concerning a mega Mars X-Prize, Peter Diamandis is a strong advocate of a private mission to Mars. "I think privately funded missions are the only way to go to Mars with humans because I think the best way to go is on "one-way" colonization flights and no government will likely sanction such a risk. The timing for this could well be within the next 20 years. It will fall within the hands of a small group of tech billionaires who view such missions as the way to leave their mark on humanity" (Diamandis 2010).
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