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Commercialization

Space Party Time in Colorado Again

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
April 4, 2017
Filed under ,

NASA Watch founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.

12 responses to “Space Party Time in Colorado Again”

  1. RJ says:
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    Disguisting and Sad!

  2. DP Huntsman says:
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    I’ve only been to NSS twice due to costs. I truly was disturbed at the amount of total monies spent on it: the constant parties funded by the corporations, another place to lobby generals and administrator-types. If Space Foundation truly wanted to lead, they’d not only make the conference cheaper to widen it; but also set up a space development fund where companies could from now on, pour the monies they spend on the frivolous on this to fund nascent space startups that aren’t feeding off the government teet.

  3. jamesmuncy says:
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    Keith,

    This seems to be a snapshot of the revenue part of SF’s tax form. It’s not surprising that very little money COMES IN for education. The question is how much GOES OUT for education. I suspect that the revenue from teachers/schools to pay for workshop fees is chump change compared to how much SF spends on actual educational programs, using some of the revenue they earned from the Symposium.

    – Jim

    • kcowing says:
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      I speak English and know that this is “Revenue” – it says so on the left hand side. Imagine if all this money coming in went to education instead of throwing expensive parties and paying inflated salaries. Check for yourself http://990s.foundationcente

      • jamesmuncy says:
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        Okay. On page 2 line 4a it says that the revenue for the symposium is $2million over costs. On line 4b it shows they spent $1.5 million over revenue on education. And Public Education is $600k over revenue. So they spent ALL of their “profit” on the symposium on education.

        As far as expensive parties… I believe most of those parties are paid for by corporate sponsors outside of their fees to the SF. They pay the Broadmoor for catering and alcohol. None of that shows up in the SF’s tax return. SF never sees that money.

        Listen, Keith, I have no clue why I’m bothering to talk about this. I’m home sick, hacking up my lungs, and defending an organization I don’t particularly like.

        I suspect that the companies who are the customers of the SF would not be customers if they didn’t get value from their registrations and exhibit space and such. If SF spent much more of their revenue on education they wouldn’t deliver a great marketing event to their customers.

        Bottom line: SF is spending $2.1m more on education than would be spent otherwise. Companies are paying for marketing services and 1/3 of that money is going to Education. I wish that aerospace marketing weren’t as much about showing off your glitz to government officials, but even commercial industries (e.g. telecom) throw big wasteful parties.

        • kcowing says:
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          Its a party. That’s all it is. Without all the schmoozing aerospace could be doing a lot more. But they don’t. This is what it must have been like when ROme was burning.

          • Michael Spencer says:
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            It is a party for generating money. Still don’t see the problem. Same with every fund-raiser I’ve ever been to.

  4. ThomasLMatula says:
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    What do you expect? The National Space Symposium is a celebration by the old space industry of old space firms. Just review their agenda. They don’t want the unwashed masses of space advocates to attend, just the old industry insiders.

    • jamesmuncy says:
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      That’s not as true anymore. Blue Origin is displaying New Shepard (in the snow!) this year. But it is a professional business conference for people making money in space… not like Space Access or ISDC.

      • fcrary says:
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        Business being the key word. How different is this from any other business conference or trade show? How much goes into entertaining potential clients at a automobile trade show? These people are in business, and doing business involves marketing.

  5. Dewey Vanderhoff says:
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    – appears to be a Shriner’s convention to me.

  6. Search says:
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    Space Symposium – where New Space goes to be like Old Space