Private space: a free-market approach to space exploration.
JEFF ZINSMEISTER, Global Notebook Editor, Harvard International Review
Since Sputnik was first placed into Earth orbit in 1957, space exploration has remained almost exclusively under the auspices of government. The tremendous costs and national security interests of the Cold War effectively barred private participation within the final frontier. With the exception of communication satellites, government-sponsored research, and vendor activities for government space programs, private industry has played a minor role. Even after the Cold War, governments still stand as the only route to space flight.
On a day in 2000, however, a tiny probe landing on a near-Earth asteroid may change the face of space exploration forever. There is nothing novel concerning the mission per se, which will take measurements of water and mineral composition of the rock. Still, it will mark a milestone in space flight. This 500 kilogram piece of metal will not only be the first private spacecraft to leave Earth's orbit, but also the first to rendezvous with and land on another planetary body. It will be privately funded in its entirety, and the data it collects will be offered on the market like any other commodity, available to whomever is willing to pay for it.
The project is the Near Earth Asteroid Prospector (NEAP), the brainchild of ex-software mogul Jim Benson, the CEO and founder of the Colorado-based Space Development (SpaceDev). Modeled after the 1997 Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR), a project of the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA), NEAP is a private attempt to accomplish what government can do, only more cheaply and without the cumbersome bureaucracy.
SpaceDev is a unique company in the space industry; it identifies itself simply as "a private corporation engaged in the commercialization of space exploration." Its mission statement belies SpaceDev's radical ideas. Benson seeks a revolutionary departure from the glory days of government space programs--his success may mark a radical shift in how the world perceives space exploration and how governments and corporations do business together in space. SpaceDev's existence exemplifies the coming changes in space exploration. The statistics alone are notable, as NEAP comes at a time when commercial revenues exceeded government expenditures in space for the first time in history. As private industries take up a once exclusively public endeavor, NEAP is a fascinating microcosm of the evolution of space programs worldwide after the Cold War, one that is at both a reflection of past changes and a taste of things to come.
