Pros And Cons Of The Commercial Crew And Cargo Programs

Humans, for as long as we have had the ability to possess cognitive reasoning, have always looked up at the stars and wondered. We have wondered what and who else may be out in space. In today’s modern age, we are far close than ever before to understanding the cosmos. We are so technologically advanced that we have the ability to commercialize the cosmos. We are already on the right path towards that commercialization. With the Commercial Crew and Cargo Program office, or C3PO, NASA has the potential to not only drastically advance America’s space programs, but the entire global space industry’s capabilities. Increasing funding will benefit not only the American space industry, but also the global space industry as well. An explanation of

This would save our government significant amounts of money that could be used for further research and exploration. How does this work? The Commercial Crew and Cargo Program has made most of the American space industry commercialized by offering various space companies contracts that allow the government to not only profit, but reap the technological strides that are achieved by these private space companies. By doing this, the Commercial Crew and Cargo Program acts as a contract system for the private space companies. What sets the Commercial Crew and Cargo Program aside from other programs similar to it is the unique relationship it has with its private space companies. Traditionally NASA would create and operate systems that would work in a government/contractor-like model. However, with the Commercial Crew and Cargo Act, NASA acts as a lead investor and customer of transportation services for private companies like SpaceX or Orbital ATK, therefore completely eliminating the need for contractors to build vehicles for programs such as the low Earth orbit

If the government contracts through private companies, the companies are incentivized to only pursue profitable avenues of service and potentially ignore other, more scientifically-based but less lucrative possibilities. The naysayers debate that private companies are ill suited to explore NASA’s interests because private companies do not actually care about research and development, but rather that they only care about their own fiscal well-being and their quarterly reports (The Washington Post in collaboration with The Partnership for Public Service). However, this is erroneous and outdated thinking as NASA has plans with safe guards in motion that benefit both the company and the government space industry which both allows for the commercialization of low Earth orbit programs while simultaneously cutting down on government spending. In an effort to ensure the Commercial Crew and Cargo Program is not profit-focused, the verbiage of the C3PO is specifically fashioned so this does not happen. The Commercial Crew and Cargo Program offers contract money through a series of well-thought out milestones that the companies must achieve in order to receive the pay-outs. The naysayers to commercialization have ensured that the privatization of space programs is a thoughtful and successful venture for all those