MichSpace

On Tuesday, January 12, we were privileged to have Jeffrey Manber, the CEO of Mircorp, give a speech on whether or not venture capitalists will make it in space. The hour or so long presentation opened up our minds (well, mine, at least) to the potential vastness of private space industry or the space industry in general. Walking into the hall, I only had a vague idea as to what topics would be discussed. (Capitalism is such a big word. It makes me think of lightning rods on top of tall buildings. I am not sure why. . . )

Mr. Manber's speech preached realism in a society that focuses far too much on idealism. He spoke of the private industry's struggle against NASA (America's ONLY go-to guy about space) and how we need to commercialize the industry in order to create a palpable product. His talk was enlightening and interesting as we learned of a history with the Soviet Union that we had never heard of. I learned a lot about the role of space beyond the scope of NASA. For example, Mircorp, a commercial company involving the Russian space program,launched their own independent space station in 2000. (It was later decommissioned in 2001.)

Anyway, the point is that Mr. Manber had a valid point. There are a few truths we have to face:
1) The Shuttle is being decommissioned soon and the Soyuz will be the only way for us to get to the ISS, meaning that we will have to rely completely on the Russians. Which isn't me trying to preach hatred towards the red, but rather me pointing out that we are the greatest nation on the planet and we should have the upper hand on this, as well as everything else in the world!
2) There is a seven year gap in the space program which may have been preventable if we had opened up to commercialization earlier.
3) Despite my love for NASA (which I have a ton of), they should have put in more efforts to foresee this issue.

Possible solution: allow for the commercial industry to work directly with a NASA who will lead and guide, not overbear. This will be effective, especially amongst the time lapse.

I shall end with a quote and a thanks.

"My vision of space is to have a private marketplace where competition thrives."
Thank you, Jeffrey Manber for coming out and enlightening us on the cold, fateful day of January the twelfth.