bird@kksys.mn.org (Mike Bird) (03/21/90)
My brother is announcing that he will run for the U. S. Senate in Alaska tomorrow. He is running as a Republican against an incumbent Republican, so he'll probably get blown out of the water. However, he has asked me to give him a "White Paper" on what the U. S. policy on space should be. He has described a White Paper as being a position paper of 2 or 3 pages length. I have agreed to do this, and I'd like some input from y'all. (O.K., let me clear out 20Mb or so on my hard disk...) My basic position is that NASA should concentrate on R&D, just like it does in the Aeronautics arena and should off-load the operational stuff to either a private contractor, or else a new government agency should be set up to handle shuttle and satellite activities. SDI, Space station, the Deep Space Network and probes, would still fall under NASA. I also think it's time to get some "new blood" into the space contracting side. Most of the large contractors (Martin Marietta (sp?), Lockheed, Rockwell, etc.) have, IMHO, a hardening of the arteries due to being so large. They're almost as bureaucratic as NASA. As a result, in both the government (NASA) and private sectors, new, risky, ideas are passed over for tried-and-true methods. This has caused (also IMHO) a stagnation in our space efforts. Money has a lot to do with it as well. So, please e-mail me your opinions by March 28th, 1990. Anything sent after that will not get consideration. When I have the thing keyed in, I will send a copy to all contributors. No input, no copy (this is called "incentive"). I *will* listen to views which conflict with mine, but it will have to be convincing. Flames (and anything with profane language in it) will *not* be considered or copied. And may prejudice (sp?) me against the (presumably conflicting) viewpoint even more. Thanks for the netbandwidth. P.S. Postings (as opposed to e-mail) may be considered, but won't be copied. -- ============================================================================== Mike Bird - B. Dalton, Bookseller bird@clavdivs.MN.ORG Helen Bird - Hummingbird Tailors helen@clavdivs.MN.ORG Laid off in 1990 All opinions void where prohibited by law!