Shivani P Kapoor, is living in India. Shivani P Kapoor is part of our authors community since and has published 1 post.
Space flight is a domain wherein both, the Government, and private space agencies and companies play sorry equally major roles in today’s world. The government agencies are involved in the exteriors of most projects that involve space exploration. However, it is important to note that most of the parts of the hi-tech spacecrafts have originally been manufactured by private companies working in contract basis under the supervision of the government.
The New Space Movement: Boeing, Lockheed Martin and more are the names that come to mind when we associate with the private companies working with NASA. The scenario had since changed a lot. With the accelerated exploration of space, the development of space resources is now spread out among a lot of other small private companies and they are bringing in what is known as the New Space Movement. These forms want to practically change the development of space resources, the way we are used to looking at government – private collaborations, and the actual approach towards space exploration.
Filling in the void: The work of NASA and other such government space agencies had been commendable to say the least, and a huge section of the government’s money is stacked up here. What is necessary to keep in mind is that the Government cannot afford to risk losing all the pooled up money in uncertain ventures. So when private companies step in, and the economic resources are panned out, costs can be easily recouped. Multi-billionaire companies like Space-X and Blue Origin can fill the void that is present in the relationships between the government and the private sector for the development of space resources.
A Vivid Example: One of the most important space missions of all time – the Apollo 11, ultimately succeeded in placing man on our moon, way back in 1969. A brief examination of the mission shows 5 main components of the spacecraft, including the tickets, modules and escape systems. Now, the role that NASA played was restructured only to the designing of these machines. The actual manufacturing and assembling of the individual parts is attributed to various private contractors and companies including Boeing, IBM, Lockheed Propulsion Company and the other private companies. If it were not for the private sector, the government-specified space resources could not have been completed within the given timeframe.
Reducing costs, increasing the technological bandwidth – that’s all the private sector is here to accomplish with tie-ups with the government. This is for the successful development of space resources.
