Space Frontier Foundation

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Space Frontier Foundation logo

The Space Frontier Foundation is a small but influential space advocacy organization that promotes increased involvement of the private sector, rather than governments, in the exploration and development of space.

The Foundation was founded in 1988 by space activists who felt that: it was technically possible to realize their shared vision of large-scale...settlement of the inner solar system... [but] they knew this was not happening (and couldn't happen) under the status-quo centrally planned and exclusive U.S. government space program.^[1]

In recent years, the Space Frontier Foundation has been supportive of various private sector efforts such as the Ansari X Prize, the SpaceShipOne project, and entrepreneur Robert Bigelow's plans to build a space hotel.

The Foundation has often been critical of the U.S. government's efforts in space, particularly those of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. For example, the Foundation has criticized NASA's Space Shuttle, claiming that the shuttle's work could be better done by private sector companies. However, the Foundation has supported some recent NASA efforts, such as NASA's Centennial Challenges prize program for stimulating private-sector innovation.

Additional Foundation projects include The Watch, an asteroid and comet detection and research project,^[2] Permission to Dream, connecting students around the world through the wonder of space and astronomy,^[3] the annual Return to the Moon^[4] and Space Frontier^[5] conferences and the Space Settlement Project in marketing space to the general public.^[6]

Perhaps the most public face of the Space Frontier Foundation is co-founder Rick Tumlinson, who has been asked by Congress to testify on space-related topics six times since 1995. Tumlinson was recently included in Space News magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in the space industry.^[7]

The Foundation’s current strategic focus is to enable the growth of the NewSpace community. When President Bush announced his ‘Renewed Spirit of Discovery’ vision on January 13, 2004, the Foundation's policy toward NASA has been evolving as NASA’s reaction to this change of direction has evolved.

Now that NASA’s reaction has become clear with their official unveiling of the Exploration Systems Architecture Study on September 19, 2005, the Foundation's Board of Directors has endorsed the following objectives:

The Space Frontier Foundation's mission is to open the space frontier to permanent human settlement;
An open frontier can only be achieved by unleashing the power of free enterprise;
Government’s role in unleashing the power of free enterprise is critical and best accomplished by adopting the proven frontier paradigm of catalyzing the private sector;
All parts of all governments must embrace and fully utilize the potential of the emerging NewSpace Industry, and;
Regarding NASA, the near-term focus of the Foundation is on maximizing the market share of goods and services that the NewSpace industry is permitted to capture.