[extropy-chat] Alternate Universe: Human Spaceflight Without NASA?

[Giu1i0 Pri5c0]

>From Space.com, an interesting article on the future of space exploration:
Space visionary Freeman Dyson, the acclaimed emeritus professor of physics
at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, recently had a
conversation with Robert Zubrin, the world's biggest cheerleader for human
missions to Mars.
"Your scheme of Mars missions is excellent," Dyson said, "but it has one
fatal flaw, the fact that you are expecting NASA to do it." "Ah, but when we
give NASA a real challenge like this, it will be a different NASA," Zubrin
replied. "I think he is right," Dyson said last Thursday. I had asked Dyson
and other top scientists about the future of human spaceflight, on a day
when worldwide media reports (then denied) said President Bush might soon
announce a major new human space initiative, to the Moon and perhaps Mars.
Sir Martin Rees, a British cosmologist and author of popular books, figures
rich entrepreneurs like Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos should lead the way to
the Moon and Mars, with NASA playing a supportive role.
The article describes the views of Dyson, Zubrin, Rees and others on space
exploration, reporting that many well-known rich individuals are trying to
set up commercial space ventures. If humans venture back to the Moon, and
even beyond, they may carry commercial insignia rather than national flags.
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