Jeff’s questions are tactical in nature: “Left unanswered, though, is who in Congress would be willing to take up a new version of the legislation, and how they would get it pushed through Ways and Means (let alone the full House, as well as the Senate.)”

The first steps are setting the correct national goals and selecting the most effective strategy to meet those goals. If the goal is radically lower cost space access, then investment tax credits to encourage increased private investment in space transportation (along the lines of Calvert-Ortiz) should be part of the strategy.

After we agree on the strategy, we can quickly get to follow-on tactical steps such as the “who”, “what” and “how” issues, which includes finding allies and champions on the Hill (who), and dealing with Ways & Means (how).

The real next step, IMO, is “Who is going to take a leadership role on this issue, and make it priority?” This idea has been around for a long time (Orbital was formed, in part, because of access to tax incentives in the 1980s). Tax credits are proven to be effective.

But great ideas, without anybody willing to do the work, are just fantasies.

FWIW,

– Al

We better agree on some standards on how satellites have to be built, that they won’t fall apart after a few years in space and threaten other objects. After that we could think about getting cheaper launchers.

My 2 cents