Battleangel

This is just the first small step of course, but the future is clear. NASA has no place in the sort of society that the US has become. Privatization takes priority no matter how dumb it may seem. And purely scientific missions are already being scrubbed for the sake of the flimsy Mars mission that looms in the near future.

Slashdot - NASA to Privatize ISS Missions? - NASA is looking for private companies to take over the business of transporting astronauts and cargo to the International Space Station. “‘Certainly this is an opportunity for the new space companies,’ said Jim Banke, head of Florida operations for The Space Foundation industry trade association. ‘They’ve been lobbying NASA hard for something like this for years.’ NASA hopes to supplement, and eventually replace, crew and cargo flights to the space station that had been planned for the shuttle fleet.” One has to wonder how much money can be saved by NASA that can be put to use elsewhere, such as trying to figure out how to put together a manned mission to Mars, if they no longer have to dish out the tremendous amount of money that getting astronauts and cargo to the ISS requires.

Note the Slashdot-added jingoism. Because obviously the ISS, the INTERNATIONAL Space Station, is not patriotic enough. Whatever they do it is not good enough. The science is not up to specs no matter what. So here is where the privatization starts due to the apparent conflict with US interests. Though I have no doubt they will continue until NASA itself is under private control.

The problems that arise on this path are endless. Just to name a few: For one, unlike the Slashdotter claims, NASA will still have to pay these companies for doing the same work. Who else will foot the bill for their part in the ISS agreement? Unlike what those hilarious neo-liberals seem to think, companies don’t do charity work. The US budget is stretched as it is and to the point where legitimate science has to fold. Second, and contrary to popular belief, there is rarely money to save in going private. Nor is it likely that corporate players will do a better job overall, quite on the contrary. Not to mention the amount of sci-fi movies you must have missed if you still think that unfettered private companies will somehow NOT screw us, start a war with an alien species. Ok, but seriously.

Furthermore, the private companies that come to mind are even more closely linked to the US military machine than NASA (and that is saying a lot!). Not to mention the risk that this trend expands beyond the US space program and infiltrates the thinking of other agencies, at home and abroad, as well. Welcome to the corporate state! And the new corporate space program!