Would u contribute to a private space exploration initiative?

I think this is a really great idea and if done via the net there would be no problems with payment etc. Anyway would u contribute to a space prgram organised by say harvard or oxford university with the goal of going to Mars, i would happily pay $100 per month and if 50 million others around the world did...........well lets just say 5 billion per month could do a f***** lot. In fact 60 billion per year is 5 times more money than NASA gets and they probably waste half of that on red tape.
If enough forward looking people were prepared to do this then we could be on Mars within 5 years,large sums could also be spent on finding ways to get into orbit on the cheap (ie spaceplanes and space-elevators). It would produce a huge amount of technological spin-offs which the contributers to the project could get a windfall from.
I know this kind of thing would be very difficult to get going but just think of the possibilities if it did. Are there enough like minded people?

id love to see it happen. itd be a while before i cud give 100 bux a month, but id hopefulyl get there and beyond. i think 50 million is a little high, but hey, why not?

i dont think itll happen tho. donations like that never really work cuz then it ends up being a corporation doing the whole thing. not necessarily a problem, since its private, but its a pain. if they want to do it thugh, they gotta start going through all the red tape. its hard to do.

ufo3 - I dont think people are as generous as you would be.

Personally I dont know if i would give them anything, because i wouldn't be getting anything back in return. I dont know if I could trust anyone or any company that much, ever.

If I see a bum on the side of the road asking for a little money for some food, I would just walk away, because in my mind hes just giong to waste it on something like beer.

Would you really trust a company that gets 50 billion a year to develop new and different space technologies, I Garauntee the President of that company would pull up to his building in a lamborghini, saying to the people "Please send us more money for research and development", I'd say WTF, hell no, sell your lambo and mansion if ya want money.

i think we're to assume benevolence here. i dont give my money away, but to organizations that are benevolent, and fit a certain criteria in a heartbeat i wud. the cathedral (im jewish, but i want them to finish building it - 125 years and still not done). seti. my personal gift fund.

How about a company shows proof-of-concept and financial return on investment for space tourism? If it sounded good, I would invest.

Why go to Mars? It's a one-shot deal. Now, if space can be profitable, we will start getting out there permanantly. Setting up a company that runs an orbiting space hotel, or mining one of those platinum-and-gold asteroids, sounds like a way better way to get humans into space than charity deals.

Originally posted by taibunsuu
How about a company shows proof-of-concept and financial return on investment for space tourism? If it sounded good, I would invest.

Why go to Mars? It's a one-shot deal. Now, if space can be profitable, we will start getting out there permanantly. Setting up a company that runs an orbiting space hotel, or mining one of those platinum-and-gold asteroids, sounds like a way better way to get humans into space than charity deals.

I agree, sounds like a good plan to me.

I would definitely do it but people would have to realize that a good chunk of the early funds would have to go to research and development. I doubt any governments would share their data or technology and building the infrastructure for something like this would be a consideration as well.

But, as long people reaized we wouldn't see anything amazing for quite a while I would be willing to donate for the long haul. Anything to privatize space exploration is good in my book.

Originally posted by Weller
I would definitely do it but people would have to realize that a good chunk of the early funds would have to go to research and development. I doubt any governments would share their data or technology and building the infrastructure for something like this would be a consideration as well.

But, as long people reaized we wouldn't see anything amazing for quite a while I would be willing to donate for the long haul. Anything to privatize space exploration is good in my book.

I'm assuming you're not a billionaire like Paul Allen. You have to be a little more frugal with your resources. If you had billions, then you could take huge gambles like funding esoteric tech ventures when they start. Without billions to spare you are more wise to invest your money in companies that have proven returns on investment.

If the US government kicked off US space companies with a fraction of the money they blow on the safe bet of defense corporations, we could hold the reigns of the future's next wildly profitable industry.

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I don't know if i should say, but i think space development will be driven by people with wild ideas and dreams and desperation. Look at how the West was partly settled by people chasing dreams of sudden riches of gold. Sadly it may even be because things here on earth become so untenable. I would hope that would not be the case, but I don't think history will back that up. It will probably be a mix of wild inspiration and a bigger portion of people desperate to escape the encroaching and confining aspects of too many people and ever-more invasive technologies.

Don't get me wrong, there will be success stories that will boggle the imagination. Probably wealth and power that has fingers throughout an entire solar system, and someday beyond. Space Pirates, entrepreneurs, innovators and lots of homesteaders.

I just hope we don't have to wreck this planet to get us out into space. But I have a superstition that the ignoramouses that are in power on this planet may have been placed there for exactly those reasons.

footnote: this is provided we don't destroy ourselves as a species first.
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Originally posted by taibunsuu

I'm assuming you're not a billionaire like Paul Allen. You have to be a little more frugal with your resources. If you had billions, then you could take huge gambles like funding esoteric tech ventures when they start. Without billions to spare you are more wise to invest your money in companies that have proven returns on investment.

Definitely not a billionaire but if I had 17 billion in the bank like he does I would definitely invest at least half of it into a venture like this. People like that don't usually think that big though. But I am impressed with what he has done so far...

www.space.com...

Originally posted by taibunsuuIf the US government kicked off US space companies with a fraction of the money they blow on the safe bet of defense corporations, we could hold the reigns of the future's next wildly profitable industry.

Quite possibley so.

i agree with what ppl are saying on this chat but when u go into a venture like this as with any venture say for instance the microchip is an example of how things are done, u want to advance computer's but money goin into developement isnt gonna do much unless the benifits are incorpirated commercialy for the mass's where the return is unimaginmable how much money gets made now and beein plowed back into it , so say 1 day there are 1,000,000 ppl each yr commercialy and money to go up then is say about $5000 dollers for a week there 125,000,000,000 a yr income from that and growing continualy beeing plowed back in, new fuels,cheaper craft,bigger platforms to live in, everything to make life easier up there as well that have an impack on ppl here , its like a car slowly goin from 1bhp to a continues amount getting faster and faster its just gd mantinence and gd minds working on upgrading and upgrading ans so on

i reckon with in 200yrs school kids will be taking what u americans call field trips in space and lookin back just like we do just now ohhhhh great grandad or grandmum u didnt have space holidays just like we look back and say ohhh u didnt have a tv its rather exciting how quickly momentuim is picking up its managent of this thats key factors

Originally posted by Rugoolian
i agree with what ppl are saying on this chat but when u go into a venture like this as with any venture say for instance the microchip is an example of how things are done, u want to advance computer's but money goin into developement isnt gonna do much unless the benifits are incorpirated commercialy for the mass's where the return is unimaginmable...

Good point, I've made similar posts like this one in the past. The Japanese are much further ahead of most countries in developing plans for commercializing space and making a profit from it i.e. space tourism, mining resources, etc.

At this point I look to them as the future spark for these types of ventures being initiated. They import 99% of their natural resources and started invading Asia because of this in the 30's. Now they seem content to look for them in more peaceful ways and I hope they succeed. They're experiencing some bumps in the road but at least their actively trying.

The Russians are also trying but don't have the economic resources to implement them as fully as the Japanese do.

www.popular-science.net...

[edit on 103030p://222 by Weller]

Originally posted by Weller
if I had 17 billion in the bank like he does I would definitely invest at least half of it into a venture like this.

I don't know if I'd go for half immediately. I think I'd keep feeding as long as success was being shown. I've seen a lot of companies get great financing initially and then the company leaders blow it in the stupidest ways possible, no profit and no return on investment.

Originally posted by taibunsuu

Originally posted by Weller
if I had 17 billion in the bank like he does I would definitely invest at least half of it into a venture like this.

I don't know if I'd go for half immediately. I think I'd keep feeding as long as success was being shown. I've seen a lot of companies get great financing initially and then the company leaders blow it in the stupidest ways possible, no profit and no return on investment.

I agree, I would just set that amount aside for continual investment as successes built up. That kind of funding alone just in research would get a lot of things accomplished though.

Actually he has 21 billion (not 17 as previously stated).

If I has that much I would set 1 billion aside for 10 years of development of a spacecraft, then once finished, try and get my money back and then some with public space trips.

i will give what ever it takes, i really want to see whether or not there are zetan bases on the moon.

Originally posted by Murcielago
Actually he has 21 billion (not 17 as previously stated).

If I has that much I would set 1 billion aside for 10 years of development of a spacecraft, then once finished, try and get my money back and then some with public space trips.

What you do is invest in a company like Allied Composite, and returns can be made from patents, leasing of technology, profit from possible government contracts, and then finally space tourism. You can keep putting the returns back into the company if you see opportunity for continued success.

i really like your idea but not sure id be parting with 100 bucks a month though (well not yet) it would be awesome to see this happen if you got richard branson to front it hed probably make it a reallity.The future cash returns could be huge for investors-but more to the power that we would all be investing in our futures!
good post mate.