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Solvency – Colonization Affiramtive
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- Solvency – Constellation Affirmative
Solvency – Colonization Affiramtive[____] Private sector planning of a mission to mars would save the government money and be more likely to excite the public imagination. John Tierney, science journalist for the NYT, 5/26/1996, “How To Get To Mars (And Make Millions!” http://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/26/magazine/how-to-get-to-mars-and-make-millions.html?pagewanted=print&src=pm, A manned mission to Mars, the fantasy that had paid the mortgage for generations of science-fiction writers, lost its appeal as soon as NASA plotted the itinerary. The $400 billion price tag seemed absurdly high to a nation bored with the sight of astronauts lumbering around craters. We already had enough extraterrestrial rocks, thank you. Recently, though, an intriguing modification to NASA's Mars plan has been suggested: ditch NASA. Let private explorers, modern Vikings inspired by the Norsemen's third desire, seek wealth on Mars. The basics of the expedition have been worked out by Robert M. Zubrin, who has his own research and development company, Pioneer Astronautics, in Denver. Since devising the technology for a simple and cheap mission to Mars, Zubrin has been traveling the globe giving passionate lectures about "our generation's New World." He tells audiences of the prizes offered by 15th-century Portuguese and Spanish rulers to entrepreneurs for venturing down the African coast and across the Atlantic. (Columbus's expedition was financed not only by Queen Isabella but also by private merchants who stood to gain trading concessions.) Zubrin thinks that if the United States Government were to offer a Mars Prize of $20 billion -- four times what he estimates a private mission would cost -- entrepreneurs would take the bait. If they made it to Mars and back, pocketing the prize, they could turn a nice profit; if they failed, taxpayers wouldn't be stuck with the bill. The Mars Prize would be a bargain for the public, and not merely because it would cost so much less than a NASA mission. It would also have the wonderful consequence of making exploration interesting again. Unlike NASA's conservative officials, entrepreneurs couldn't afford to bore everyone with meticulously plotted test missions executed by bland technicians. They would have to take chances, risking their lives (or at least their employees' lives) with one bold venture, as explorers used to do. And because they would finance their mission by selling media rights and marketing tie-ins, they would have to appeal to the public's imagination. They couldn't go to Mars just to perform arcane scientific experiments and drop off a plaque with politicians' names. They would have to turn Mars, once again, into a dangerous and romantic destination. [____] Private initiatives can provide the research necessary to reach mars. Patrice Sarath, a staff writer for Bizmology.com, 2/25/2011, “Space Inc.: as the shuttle program lands for good, private companies step in”, http://www.bizmology.com/2011/02/25/space-inc-as-the-shuttle-program-lands-for-good-private-companies-step-in/ The space shuttle Discovery made its last flight into space yesterday. WhenEndeavor follows in May, it will be the end of the 30-year-old space shuttle program. (There may be a June flight, but it has not been confirmed.) The shuttles will be mothballed, and possibly cannibalized for other missions, perhaps to the moon, to establish an outpost, and perhaps straight to Mars, to build a base, then eventually a colony. This is where private companies and private initiatives step in. The X Prize, Burt Rutan,Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, all of these initiatives will drive the commercialization of space flight. Private funding along with space tourism may be able to fill the void left behind by the end of the shuttle program, and provide the research and development necessary to put humans on Mars. Solvency – Constellation Affirmative[___] Constellation is a “brute force” approach to space that will not be successful long term. We need to encourage commercial attempts at space access. Dennis Wingo, 22-year veteran of the computer, academic, and space communities, Founder & President of SkyCorp Inc., 6/8/2011 “An Open Letter to Neil Armstrong, Gene Cernan, and James Lovell,” http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=1538 In 1969, the United States was at the height of its economic and political power and we turned away from space; today we are broke and the challenges that face our nation are daunting in the extreme. Without a powerful economic incentive, space is simply not worth the expenditure. It is within our financial and technical power to do this as a nation, but not through the brute force method of an "Apollo on steroids" architecture (as cited by Mike Griffin) and certainly not with further flags and footprints. The day that Werner von Braun, sitting at his desk in Huntsville, caved to the inevitability of the Lunar Orbit Rendezvous method of getting to the Moon. he warned his Huntsville staff that his greatest fear was that Apollo would lead to a "Kilroy Was Here" mentality that would allow our political leaders to kill the program after the first success was had. The ESAS/Constellation architecture of an "Apollo on steroids" program, even if somehow successful, is molded in the same vein, and with our economic difficulties today, would be similarly shut down after the initial goal reached. There are architectures out there - many of them - that will enable the economic development of the solar system and the harvesting of the resources that are out there, wealth that will transform our world for the better, for the good of all humankind, in keeping with the Kennedy vision and legacy. NASA is making moves in that direction today with a focus on the use of commercial space solutions for cargo and human spaceflight, contracts for fuel depots, and other innovative systems. However, the rump ESAS/Constellation program in the form of the SLS vehicle is not one of them. Indeed, as we are seeing what the James Webb Telescope threatens to do to the science budget, the SLS sucks the needed oxygen of technology development and innovation needed to make Kennedy's vision come to pass. To be worthy inheritors of the Kennedy space legacy we must be willing to depart from its 1960s form and adopt an approach that works now - half a century later - one that is as relevant to our times as Apollo was to its own time. [____] Privatization is economic necessity. There’s no solvency deficit, all spacecraft are built by private companies in the status quo. Paul Taylor, The Boston Globe and Mail’s health editor, has won two awards sponsored by the Canadian Science Writers’ Association; 4/9/2011, “Can Capitalism Save Space Travel?” It's not simply faith in free-enterprise economics that is driving the Obama administration's space policy. It's also a matter of necessity. U.S. taxpayers and lawmakers are unwilling to finance NASA to the same extent that made it possible for America to land the first men on the moon in 1969. As Mr. Mango explains it, if NASA spends its limited funds building a new rocket system just to get a few hundred miles above the Earth, "there won't be enough resources to do the exploration part." In many respects, Mr. Obama's plan is an extension of an existing program to fund the private development of unmanned supply vessels to the space station once the shuttles retire. Some of the same companies with cargo contracts also want to carry passengers. It's important to keep in mind that every single U.S. manned spaceship - from Mercury to the shuttles - has been essentially designed and built by private industry under contract for NASA. What is changing is the ownership. Rather than NASA having its own fleet, it will rent seats on commercial spacecraft. But for that to happen, the companies will have to make a profit on transporting people to space, rather than on building the vehicles. So Washington is essentially padding the bottom line of the companies by helping to pay the up-front development costs of the new rocket systems. Directory: wp-content -> uploads -> 2011 2011 -> Voices of the Old Sea Norman Lewis 2011 -> Malevil Robert Merle 2011 -> The Elephant Keeper’s Children Peter Hoeg 2011 -> Jv packet •Mars Colonization Affirmative •Mars Colonization Negative 2011 -> Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) omb no. 1024-0018 2011 -> All America Looks Up to Virginia;” Virginia and the Declaration of Independence 2011 -> Rao bulletin 2011 -> Christopher Columbus was born between 25 August and 31 October 1451 in 2011 -> The Battle of Frenchtown (1855), Washington Territory: the Political and Demographic Context rev 9/4/11 2011 -> The harmony society Download 2.75 Mb. Share with your friends:
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