From Space Applications to Space Tourism: Commercializing the Next Generation of Space Businesses
Co-Chairs: Joseph Pelton, GW University & Douglas Heydon, Consultant
Highlights
Joe Pelton (bio) of George Washington University chairs a panel of three presenters whose past experience and performance in the space industry put them in a position to help us judge the future of space commercialization.
The first speaker Courtney Stadd (bio) talks about the diverging roles of government and private enterprise with their different approaches and philosophies. He sees the entrepreneurial model as the future for commercial space.
The following presenter Gregg Maryniak (bio) quotes a friend as saying, "Vision without funding equals hallucination." The biggest problem with space flight, he says, is neither technical nor regulatory; it is that there is just not enough of it. The number of commercial launches has been low since the mid-1990s; from an economics perspective, there needs to be more. The way for space flight to get cheaper and safer is to do much more of it. The industry needs government for risk reduction.
Stephen Newman (bio), who worked with government before entering the private sector, discusses risk-reduction in commercial space using a "strong risk management ethic and thought process" and standards deployed across the total life-cycle.
Courtney Stadd, Consultant
Right click to download:
video (mpeg4, 97.7 MB)
audio (m4a, 10.7 MB)
slides (pdf, 456 KB)
Greg Maryniak, Exec. Vice President, X-Prize
Right click to download:
video (mpeg4, 98.4 MB)
audio (m4a, 10.4 MB)
Stephen Newman, VP Ares Corporation
Right click to download:
video (mpeg4, 124.7 MB)
audio (m4a, 13.4 MB)
slides (pdf, 540 KB)
Questions and Answers
Right click to download:
video (mpeg4, 170.5 MB)
audio (m4a, 18.1 MB)
Commercialization of Space
Winter 2008
Session 2
