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| Tuesday / 2 May 2006 | ||
Sustainable
Lunar Development Key Factors: Internationalism and Commercialism.
NASA Deputy Administrator Shana Dale
says lunar
commerce is an essential part of the VSE.
Last Friday, Dale and other NASA officials commented on a four-day
strategy workshop billed as the first meeting to determine what humans
will do back on the Moon. "The teams recognize the critical importance
of space commerce -- having real companies going to the Moon and
making money. The government needs to be a trailblazer and enabler
[with] a desire to see commerce take off. Other essentials for a
global space strategy include public involvement and participation
by international partners," Dale said. The event, which took place
in Washington DC, was attended
by 200 people from 13 countries, including
representatives from international government agencies, aerospace
industry contractors, educational institutions, and entrepreneurial
space commerce firms. Numerous ideas for making money on the Moon
were discussed. Also, the experts raised questions about the establishment
of a government, laws, lunar property rights, and interoperability
standards for enabling hardware from various countries to work together.
Other topics covered the testing of technologies for electrical-power
production and the types of science that could be carried out on
the lunar surface. The dialog will continue at space venues throughout
the year, perhaps at 'Industry Space Days 2006' on 29 May in Noordwijk,
The Netherlands.
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