Innovation in space exploration shows how far capitalism can take us.
So a while back, I noted here that one of the Obama administration's policy successes involves the increasing commercialization of space. And (some would say in a marked contrast to the Obama administration's approach elsewhere) this has been a considerable success.
But one criticism has been that while we've seen some interesting approaches to getting objects, and people, into orbit, we haven't done anything big. Heck, it's been just about 40 years since the last human being walked on the Moon.
Now we have a new commercial venture aimed at doing something about that. It's called "Golden Spike" -- after the final spike that connected the Transcontinental Railroad -- and it's a commercial venture aimed at taking missions to the Moon.
As founder Alan Stern told an interviewer:
"When [NASA's] Constellation [project] was canceled, I wanted to look at the private sector. We talked to a number of private experts; about 20 accepted, and over a period of four months, we put together proposals. This culminated in a meeting in Telluride, Colorado, where we concluded it really was possible to make Moon travel commercial. . . .
Our business line is simple: selling lunar expeditions to any country. In the '80s and '90s, the Soviets were selling countries trips to the Mir space station. Japan, Austria. … France bought six trips! We think that trips to the Moon will be at least as popular. One and a half billion for two people to the surface of the Moon — countries already spend that much on robot exploration."
Will this venture work? Maybe. On the one hand, a major reason that countries might want to launch a Moon mission is to demonstrate homegrown technical prowess, something that outsourcing to an American company may not exactly underscore. On the other hand, not that many people have walked on the Moon -- and nobody has for almost 40 years -- so sending your astronauts there, by whatever means, is still pretty cool. And, of course, the science is just as good no matter how you get there.
Then there's Elon Musk's plan to take people to Mars, and in large numbers: "For $500,000 each. At a rate of 80,000 a year." Though Elton John says that Mars ain't the kind of place to raise your kids, if we send that many people to Mars, we'll be colonizing and raising a lot of kids. That would be cool.
Will these dreams pan out? Maybe, maybe not. But they are serious efforts, by serious people, at doing the kinds of exciting things in space that NASA hasn't seriously thought about in 40 years. That they're bearing fruit now is a testament to Obama's space policy and its endorsement of free markets.
With free markets, you don't have to convince government bureaucrats and Congressional appropriators that your idea is a good one -- you just have to convince customers and investors. And though government bureaucrats and Congressional appropriators are deathly afraid of failure for political reasons, entrepreneurs succeed by courting -- and, sometimes, learning from -- failure. That's something government programs can't do.
By endorsing free markets, Obama has created an environment for dramatic innovation in space. It would be nice if he took the lesson and tried the same thing here on Earth.
Glenn Harlan Reynolds is professor of law at the University of Tennessee. He blogs at InstaPundit.com.
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