Hmm, this sounds familiar:
The Space Frontier Foundation is transforming space from a government-owned bureaucratic program into a dynamic and inclusive frontier open to all people. Our central goal is the large-scale permanent settlement of space. We believe people have the “right stuff’ and that everyone will benefit from opening the space frontier. We believe that free markets and free enterprise will become an unstoppable force in the irreversible settlement of this new frontier, and that our world is on the verge of a truly historic breakthrough – cheap access to space.
Sounds great in theory. I mean, they get it. But in practice, space is way more expensive than the ocean, and the ocean is expensive enough that it is a major challenge for us. I think it’s pretty clear which new frontier is most likely to be opened in our lifetimes, although I’m glad that people are working on the next one in parallel. It’s a bigger, longer-term vision, which will take a lot of time to develop.
Will: “Dude, space is so expensive that only governments can do it. At least people live on boats now! And there are cruise ships!”
BTW, the SFF is having its NewSpace 2009 Conference starting tomorrow at NASA Ames in Mountain View, CA.
Seasteading + Spacesteading = win
Like Sea Launch, but under a flag of convenience.
Creation of a Space Elevator would greatly enhance the ability to pioneer space.
Does the seasteading movement have any competitive projects like the “Beaming and Tether Challenge” http://blog.spaceelevator.com/ or DARPA’s “Grand Challenge”? http://www.darpa.mil/grandchallenge/index.asp
I wouldn’t dismiss spacesteading in our life time given the accelerating development of technology and the burgeoning NewSpace industry. There are companies out there who have already launched their own space station modules. I think Bigelow Aerospace launched two.
Ultimately it’s about having the vision, ambition and wit to take a gradual approach, working at one problem at a time and then evolving from one to the other until the goal is complete.
And of course, as Carl said, seasteading can easily serve as a launchpad to spacesteading, literally. 🙂
This is something I want to work on in the future personally if I’m successful with my current online ventures.
Regards