Mar 6 1984
From The Space Library
Charles Yost, a member of NASA's Space Station task force, speaking at the Shuttle/Space Station business opportunities conference in Washington, said "There's been an overhyping of the commercialization of space idea." He added that it would take years before investments in many of the space-based opportunities being explored showed a significant return. However, he pointed out, "industry must be willing to risk its money up front," and said that nine companies had applied for a joint endeavor agreement with the space agency. At the time, only four companies had actually signed with NASA to use the Space Shuttle for business ventures.
Space industry analysts said that it would cost "a minimum of few million dollars" to begin exploiting the commercial potential of space. Though satellite communication had proved profitable, most space-based efforts faced an uncertain future. A Reagan administration recommendation to turn the nation's Landsat remote-sensing and weather satellite systems over to private industry had met resistance in Congress, and some analysts believed there might not be a market for remote-sensing data. Many attendees at the conference questioned whether any company would make money in space manufacturing before 1990. (W Post, Mar 7/84, D-16)
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