>> True, but government should not get totally out of the picture
until the
>> technological and infrastructure base is sufficient to be
economical,
>> with growth, not just self sufficiency.
>
>This may be -- let's say I'm somewhat agnostic on the subject of
whether
>or not a government needs to "prime the pump". But, assuming
that such
>may be necessary, I would want government involvement to be
minimal,
>indirect, and of limited duration.
As I understand it, a U.S. Federal law makes it illegal for a
private corporation to compete with NASA. Unfortunately, I
haven't been able to search down the references -- so my
understanding might merely represent folklore.
Request: anyone who *does* know the legality of U.S.-based
private launches, please illuminate. I note that, if significant
legal barriers exist, they would represent quite the opposite of
"pump priming."
-R
Richard Plourde .. rplourde@andesign.mv.com
"The word is not the thing, the map is not the territory"
http://www.crl.com/~isgs/isgshome.html
http://www.general-semantics.org/