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(but flight too) A question about Falcon 9 security


goldenpeach

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But would actually help the aerospace industry as a whole by reducing the costs and allowing for a more competitive environment with lower barriers of entry.

You forget that the aerospace industry in the US only exists because the Government pays for it through NASA and DoD. The commercial offerings are only possible because they are built upon a highly subsidized infrastructure. The Government does that because it creates highly qualified jobs and generates technology that benefits the country. The science and prestige objectives are secondary.

Outsourcing the industry to foreign countries would be counter-productive on so many levels. Not only would you destroy domestic jobs, but you would also be exporting the technology that you spent decades building.

Edited by Nibb31
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No. Because the space industry is highly subsidized. Government space programs only really exists nowadays as a job program, to provide an outlet for highly qualified engineering jobs and to create domestic technological expertise. The science and prestige benefits are secondary.

Depends which 'government space program' you're talking about. The Russian one puts up huge numbers of government communications and national security sats while barely being able to hold onto the engineers that it has, and the Chinese and Indian does the same while bringing in considerable foreign revenue. Even most US launches are various applied government sats-weather, GPS, recon, et.c.

Also, remember that the 'space industry' is far bigger than the space launch industry. Satellite manufacturers, operators and insurers are mostly not government subsidised, and are often extremely profitable.

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