None Other than Glenn Reynolds, the accused puppy blender and nemesis of the Alliance of Free Blogs delivers an overall sitrep on the state of spaceflight activity in the early 20th Century. HINT: Think 1930’s aviation to make a comparison.
Indeed, spaceflight seems to be entering a phase much like aviation in the 1920s: Rapid technological development, with support for breakthroughs becoming a prestige activity on the part of rich guys who want to see the technology develop — and who think they just might get even richer in the process. This support created a virtuous circle of technological improvement and expanding markets that lasted a couple of crucial decades, seeing aviation move from a novelty to a huge industry.
Which is also what the prize programs and space tourism ventures are likely to do. Space enthusiasts, God knows, have seen plenty of disappointment in the past few decades, as the brief false dawn of Apollo led to years of failed promises and no visible momentum. But we’re now seeing signs of new technologies — and, just as important, new systems of organization — that make a takeoff into sustained growth much more likely for the space sector. Prizes to develop technology, space tourism to develop markets and help us move up the learning curve, and people with the money and vision to provide the seed capital for both: The essentials now look to be in place. It’s about time.
Indeed!