Think Big

In the late 1960's, Norman Cousins, then Editor of The Saturday Review and later the World magazine, was on the Board of Directors of a company I had started, Meta-Language Products, Inc.  He was, needless to say an uber-Liberal, but held a view that was strangely orthogonal to this orthodoxy ... he was for the private ownership of space exploration.  I then thought that this idea was a little loony, given the enormous expense that was associated with such a venture -- launch pads, communications networks, recovery armadas, control rooms, R and D expenses, hoards of technicians, etc.  But, nevertheless, he raised a significant amount of money to push forward this chimera ... all to no avail.

Now, over forty years later, this same dream is being resurrected.  James Cameron, director of Avatar and the Titanic films, and two Google poobahs are launching a company to explore and exploit opportunities in space ... see Wall Street Journal Article.  This company, Planetary Resources, Inc. is not lacking in big thinking.  It wants to send missions to asteroids and mine their resources ... with the intent to "overlay two critical sectors — space exploration and natural resources — to add trillions of dollars to the global GDP [and] help ensure humanity's prosperity."  I have written in the past about the private sector's ambitions in space .  see: Beam Me Up Scotty.  Although I admire visionaries who dream and think big (perhaps because I have been accused of being one), I do believe that realism must prevail ... particularly when there are monetary amounts of these magnitudes involved.

I will make a tongue-in-cheek prediction ... Secretary of Energy Chu, before he leaves office (hopefully next January) will write a very large check to these Planetary Resources brainaics.