Comments on: Tax breaks and other incentives

By: Beancounter from Downunder

Beancounter from Downunder — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 05:05:32 +0000

Aggelos wrote @ August 19th, 2010 at 1:53 pm
‘I hope China to join Iss..
It wil be good for all space agencies..’

Faint hope and for heaven’s sake why would they?

By: Aggelos

Aggelos — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 17:53:25 +0000

I hope China to join Iss..
It wil be good for all space agencies..

By: Martijn Meijering

Martijn Meijering — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 17:14:07 +0000

~~Blaming~~ Nelson is disingenuous at best. Hmm, markup fail. Fixed that for me.

By: common sense

common sense — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 16:53:16 +0000

@ Al Fansome wrote @ August 18th, 2010 at 4:57 pm

Yes it is pretty sad what is happening here. I see the likes of you going away. People who always brought thoughts and substance to this forum.

On the other hand “trolls” may represent the common thoughts of the public at large. I know: Pretty scary sometimes…

I am not sure how you deal with this. Especially if you want public access and feedback.

Oh well…

By: Martijn Meijering

Martijn Meijering — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 15:29:33 +0000

Blaming Nelson is disingenuous at best.

Fixed that for you.

By: Stephen C. Smith

Stephen C. Smith — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 11:09:56 +0000

vulture4 wrote:

He did nothing to prevent the loss of Shuttle.

Bush cancelled Shuttle in January 2004 after the Columbia Accident Investigation Board concluded the Shuttle design was fundamentally unsafe (i.e. the crew vehicle mounted on the side where it was exposed to flame and falling debris). CAIB recommended a system with the crew vehicle on top. Bush followed that recommendation and Congress agreed.

Blaming Nelson is disingenuous at best.

By: vulture4

vulture4 — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 03:28:01 +0000

As to Nelson, he previously cared only about preserving Constellation, which would only create jobs in other states. He did nothing to prevent the loss of Shuttle. A public outcry seems to have convinced him to at least give lip service to “commercial”, really just a blanket term for every concept except Constellation.

By: vulture4

vulture4 — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 03:22:48 +0000

Chinese goals for human spaceflight are to 1) generate national pride and show that China is in the first rank of industrial countries, and 2) advertise Chinese commercial space and industrial capability. These objectives are satisfied with a very low flight rate just sufficient to remind the world they are there, only 1 or 2 flights a year. They have no interest in human spaceflight for military purposes, since military goals rely on unmanned systems. They have no interest in a race to the moon. If they lost they would look incompetent, if they won they would irritate their biggest customer. They would like to be invited to join the ISS program; this would show they are “in the club”. As for stealing technology, there’s nothing classified on the ISS. The most advanced electronics on the ISS are the laptop computers. Wonder where they’re made.

By: Stephen C. Smith

Stephen C. Smith — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 02:24:12 +0000

Ben Russell-Gough wrote:

Iâ€™ve seen reports that the Tiangong project is military-led too and I have to say it puzzles me.

Even though NASA has always been nominally civilian, all the astronauts through Mercury and Gemini were military, the rockets were military, and the people responsible for designing the spacecraft once worked for the Nazis.

Yet this doesn’t seem to trouble any of the people who worry about the Chinese “military” having anything to do with their space program.

This ranks right up there with a tiny beeping spheroid circling the Earth posing absolutely no threat to the U.S. — but that didn’t stop certain people from blowing Sputnik all out of proportion for political propaganda purposes.

It’s just laughable that someone would think linking together a capsule and a tiny module somehow equates to a “military space station.”

Besides, the information about this “military space station” originates with the Xinhua news agency, a propaganda organ for the Chinese government. Funny that someone who’s so paranoid about the Chinese would believe anything that comes out of Xinhua.

Let us know when that “military space station” starts bleeping so we can all run around like the end is near.

By: Rhyolite

Rhyolite — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 21:22:48 +0000

I think it is in the nations interest to foster commercial space but I am opposed to additional tax credits on prinicple.

The tax code is already riddled with exemptions, credits and other loopholes that play that play favorites with selected industries and activities. A simplified tax code with fewer loopholes would generate as much revenue with lower marginal rates, which would serve everyone’s interest. This would be another step in the wrong direction.

The best way to foster commercial space would be for the government to contract for the services it requires on a firm fixed price basis with open competitions.