Congress toes a cautious line on support for commercial space partnerships

[Elderberry]

GeekWire by Chelsey Ballarte on July 17, 2017

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Members of Congress spoke to space industry leaders on Capitol Hill last week to show their support for the private sector, but both sides expressed frustrations as well.

At the sixth annual Future Space conference, U.S. Rep. Brian Babin, the Texas Republican who chairs the House Subcommittee on Space, spoke highly of private partnerships in space.

He referred to the promise of asteroid mining twice during his talk, which is good news for Planetary Resources, a space startup based in Redmond, Wash. But Babin also told the gathering of more than 100 space industry professionals that the federal government should be cautious about backing private ventures.

“We must ensure that any public-private partnerships don’t lead to dependence or monopoly,” he said during his opening keynote. He also said that if the government invests in a space venture that’s “not worthy,” it could corrupt the market altogether.

More: https://www.geekwire.com/2017/congress-toes-cautious-line-support-commercial-space-partnerships/

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[SunkenCiv]

[snip] "We must ensure that any public-private partnerships don't lead to dependence or monopoly," he said during his opening keynote. He also said that if the government invests in a space venture that's "not worthy," it could corrupt the market altogether. [/snip]

That's adorable.