🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1993Jan27.021023.8557@pages.com>, bwebster@pages.com (Bruce F. Webster) writes:
>. I have friends who are still heavily involved in  
>the space industry at various levels. I happen to think that the best thing  
>Clinton could do would be to kill SS Fred and offer $10B, tax-free, to the  
>first US corporation or consortium to put a station on orbit and keep it  
>staffed by at least X people for a year and day. He should also offer $5B to  
>the second corporation/consortium to do the same thing. The government would  
>spend less, create more jobs, and built an 21st century industrial base.  

Gosh, you been hanging out with Jerry Pournelle, huh? 

He has expounded on the bonus plan to build a moon colony through the same
fashion. 

I got some questions for you:

	A) Who owns possession of the technology used to develop the station?
	B) Who owns the data? 
	C) How do you set the damned thing up without using goverment help
	   in the first place? Guess who owns all the big launch facilities.
	   (Unless, of course, you wish to disguise this as a Russian 
	    Marshall Plan, which is not necessary a Bad Thing. Just be say
	    so up front).
	D) Does it have to be a U.S. corp? What if I use off-shore tech, say
	   get the Italians into building my living modules?

IF, in exchange for the prize money, the government gets rights to the
"science" without infringing on trade secrets, it might work. 


                    I have talked to Ehud, and lived.
  -- >                  SYSMGR@CADLAB.ENG.UMD.EDU                        < --