This Space for Sale

Dateline: 11/14/97

You can't sell space. The "outer" kind, that is. Or can you? Recently, the reorganized Soviet Union sold their long-ready, but never used moon rocket engines to the AeroJet Corporation right here in California, USA. And just last month, Soviet astronauts began promoting commercial products. A TV ad for a milk product was actually shot aboard the Mir Space Station. Now how many of us Cold War kids thought we would ever see that?

Would the United States ever commercialize our space effort? You bet. The cost of space exploration has sped past the Federal government's ability to fully fund it at about warp seven. As a result, America has turned to private industry to help make up the ever widening gap between the cost of going into space, and the taxpayer's ability (and desire) to pay for it.

America's effort to privatize space exploration is the charge of a little known, but fascinating Federal agency, the Office of Air and Space Commercialization. Most people know that TV networks, telephone providers, and other information providers pay NASA for their services in launching and servicing communications satellites. But, exactly how much does the government make from this? According to figures from the Office of Air and Space Commercialization, private companies paid almost $7.5 Billion for satellite services, ground communications services, equipment sales, satellite manufacturing, launching, and satellite remote sensing.

Work of the Office of Air and Space Commercialization focuses on six major technologies:

1. Space Manufacturing
2. Communications
3. Space Transportation
4. GIS (Geographic Information Systems)
5. Remote Sensing
6. Positioning & Navigation / GPS

Reinventing the Compass - GPS

So far, the most visible and useful example of space commercialization to the public has been the GPS, or Global Positioning System. These amazing devices (many hand-held) are capable of instantly showing your location on the earth's surface within accuracy mere centimeters. Ranging in price from about $300 for the systems used by backpackers and sailors, to over $60,000 for units used in commercial aviation, are driven by the a network of 24 satellites orbiting at 12,535 statute miles above the earth.

This arrangement insures that a GPS receiver located anywhere on earth will be able to access the signals of at least 4 satellites. By determining the time required for each satellite's signal to arrive from its known location, the receiver can calculate its own position.

One of the network of GPS satellites

The airlines are currently the major civilian users of GPS systems. In fact, the FAA plans to allow the airlines to use GPS as their primary form of navigation in the near future. But most of us will first encounter GPS in the dashboards of our own cars. Several auto makers are already installing GPS in their top-line models. Very soon, you'll be able to buy a car with a GPS system that will navigate you across the country without a single paper map to wad up and cram in the glove box.

You have wonder if Robert F. Goddard, here had any idea just how far his first prototype rockets like this one would take us.

As we near the next millennium, many people are looking forward to the exploration, even colonization of Mars. Well, folks, unless the effort is economically sound, it just won't happen. If we are to continue the vision of space exploration, we are going to need more efforts like those of the Office of Air and Space Commercialization.

U.S. Government Info/Resources Bulletin Board
Have a question, comment or something you want to discuss? Post it on the Bulletin Board

Index to U.S. Government Web Space
Links to over 250 agencies, bureaus, commissions and offices in all three branches of government.

Federal Job Openings and Resources
40,000 people will get U.S. Government jobs this year. Want to be one of them?

Previous Features