U-Haul to the Stars
Fortunately, that impulse to muddle does not seem to have been a major force in awarding the SLI contracts. In fact, there seems to have been the very promising development that NASA is actually going the opposite direction and investing in the ability of the private sector to come up with technology and data that NASA never knew it needed but trusts it will be happy to have. A host of promising entrepreneurial companies received small-to-medium contracts, and many more that strike me as burdened by their own absurdity and/or complexity were conspicuously ignored. And a good thing, too; the quest for a Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) can be something of a money pit, so discernment in spending is long overdue.
The contract given to Kistler is probably the best example of money well-spent. The initial award is worth $10 million, which is a big deal as it is. But the really innovative bit of spending is the guarantee of $125 million more if Kistler manages to launch their K-1 RLV by 2003; NASA is interested in flight test data and if Kistler is able to provide it the financial spigots will open big-time. This idea of tentative investment with more to follow upon evidence of success is of course old hat in the private sector, not just in technical matters but in personnel matters. Heck, in all kinds of matters. You don’t pour huge amounts of time, money, effort, or anything else into any undertaking until you’ve tested the waters first. But it’s a relatively new idea for a government agency. In government, the standard operating procedure is to: a) spend lots of money on something stupid; b) when nothing happens, spend even more; and c) when people finally start to ask whether you wouldn’t be better off just burning the stuff, you embezzle the little bit you have left and ask for even more money in the next fiscal year.
In any event, this latest round of SLI contracts has me convinced that we are on the verge of something important. As I’ve said, I have the utmost confidence in Kistler, but who knows who else might make it big, too? The point is that with the coming innovation—heck, the ongoing innovation—and the new reality that NASA is actually interested in seeing a real RLV fly without needlessly dictating what it looks like or how it works, we may finally be seeing
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