🚀 go-pugleaf

In <1993Jan5.211253.20530@cerberus.ulaval.ca> yergeau@phy.ulaval.ca (Francois Yergeau) writes:

>It is my understanding that since the post-Challenger return to flight,
>NASA has been forbidden to fly commercial stuff on the shuttle. Am I
>wrong?

Yes, those restrictions have been relaxed, though not removed
entirely.  Remember the Intelsat salvage mission?  


>>constructed its own communications facilities and rented those to
>>commercial customers,
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

>Is NASA doing that?  On any scale bigger than small, occasional excess
>capacity?  If so, I agree it's playing games with its charter.

It's certainly tried.  The original plan for the TDRS system
called for at least one on-orbit spare, which would be leased
to a private company for commercial service until/unless NASA
needed it.  This never happened because NASA had trouble just
launching enough TDRS satellites for a minimal constellation.


>As for NASA hiring its own flight crew, constructing its own
>communications facilities and in general operating the shuttle system
>on its own instead of contracting out the whole works, I don't see any
>inherent problem with that.  Just like I don't hire Tektronix to
>operate my oscilloscope in the lab.  

There is some difference between operating an oscilloscope
and operating an airline.  At least six orders of magnitude
worth.  And I don't think you actively try to put other people
out of the oscilloscope business, do you?