CASIS Plans To Compete With The Private Sector Using NASA Funds
Sources report @ISS_CASIS is working to create a for-profit commercial arm of CASIS to compete with the private sector and they are doing it using #NASA funds. This is in overt conflict with both the cooperative agreement CASIS has with @NASA Congressional authorizing legislation
— NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) January 16, 2019
Apparently the number of companies willing to use their own money to develop experiments for @ISS_CASIS has all but dried up. Not sure other companies will stand for a government-subsidized competitor competing for government subsidized launches.
— NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) January 16, 2019
Well, based on past performance they’d be hard pressed to attract private investment…
What products/services are they planning to compete on?
Is it me, or does CASIS keep sounding like far too many Metropolitan Transportation Authorities seem to behave?
Maybe they can use the same campaign slogan our MTA uses.
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
If this isn’t illegal, it ought to be.
Similar things have happened before, so I suspect it’s legal.
Back in the 1990s, cable television companies were using just about anything for content, so they could advertise offering “over 100 channels” or something similar. That included things like 24-hour coverage of a camera pointed at an aquarium with tropical fish.
Someone realized we hadn’t had actual, full-disk, full-color images of the Earth since Apollo. And that it wouldn’t be too expensive the fly an appropriate camera as an hosted payload on a communications satellite. If people were willing to pay for the fish tank channel, they’d almost certainly pay for a live view of the Earth from space.
They had some trouble getting funding. After all, and even if it’s true, investors are a little leery of business plans based on “someone people will pay for just about any damn thing.” But what really killed the idea was Al Gore announcing that NASA should do more or less the same thing, and give away the coverage for free.
This feels like the gasping for breath of a fish out of water.