eugene@ames-lm.UUCP (Eugene Miya) (06/09/84)
I have received one letter from a person who believed I had negative opinions on private space ventures. This was in response to my long (misspelled in some cases) description of NASA. I have high regard for private space ventures: good luck to them all. However, many people who get involved in such ventures do not realize the sheer difficulty of getting into space. Space technology, unlike electronic or nuclear technology, has not scaled. Gravity is a difficult problem and makes for many assumptions: You cannot turn tight screws and bolts in zero G, you have to seek alternate ways of doing things. Example: from my earlier reporting of Soviet space, a big concern, now taken for granted: it was believed early in space missions that human would not be able to swallow in zero G. Suppose this had been true-> imagine the consequences->a whole technology would have to develop to support the intake of food, mucus and saliva while in space. Fortunately, this was not the case, but other problems have been encountered. Very simple things are no longer possible. These assumptions will make private space ventures difficult (as well as more advanced excursions). Big business is too conservative (what has GM done for space while not on contact? IBM and AT&T have only done what suits them. Would any of these companies develop an ion drive?). The problem with NASA is that the information is there, but it is not publicized well. In an agency run by scientists (and scientifically oriented managers), a different set of things are cut back in budgets: PR in this case [also, we know that scientists are not the best PR people]. So, good luck to all those concern private space ventures. I will wing it in the NASA bureaucracy for a while longer. --eugene miya NASA Ames Res. Ctr.