

Three Congressmen Are Using Red Tape to Bind SpaceX to Earth - rpm4321
http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2014/08/12/congress_and_spacex_red_tape_ties_up_private_space.html

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byerley
I can't understand this author's spin. The memo -

[http://coffman.house.gov/sites/coffman.house.gov/files/docum...](http://coffman.house.gov/sites/coffman.house.gov/files/documents/07%2015%2014%20SpaceX%20Concerns%20%282%29.pdf)

is a request to NASA for un-redacted information about the SpaceX failures.
They're not asking for an investigation or delays (as far as I can tell), they
just want disclosure. How is making failure information public going to slow
down progress?

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jameskilton
This is the status quo for politics these days. Our elected officials are
masters of the switcheroo. They ask innocent, logical sounding questions to
pry for information they will then use to destroy something they don't like.

You can't ask "what's wrong with this request" anymore. You have to ask "why
would they be asking for this? What do they get out of this information?"

~~~
byerley
Elected officials can certainly be two-faced.

However, I think criticizing their decisions while everyone is still in the
information gathering stages is taking vigilance way too far. Politicians are
people too and you have to give them a fair shake at doing their job before
you can lament the result.

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jameskilton
Ah yes, Republican congressmen trying to harm a _private_ company because it's
doing better than a _government_ funded program.

Pot, kettle, yada yada.

~~~
MadManE
I think that focusing on the illusory party division is exactly the wrong
approach to this. Both Democrats and Republicans are the problem, and both
parties have essentially the same agenda.

What needs to happen is the elimination of government interference, not
calling out some perceived hypocrisy.

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Tloewald
We get the governments we elect. If we pick our candidates poorly, it's our
own fault (including if we don't exercise our right to vote).

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r00fus
That's great - when I actually get to pick my candidate. Most of the times,
it's the party (or candidates' money) choosing for me - then I get to choose
which of the parties' candidates I vote for. Third party candidate? Not going
to ever work with FTTP [1] voting.

[1] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-past-the-
post_voting](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-past-the-post_voting)

~~~
spinlock
You don't vote for a Third Party Candidate. You vote for a Third Party
Platform. Once the Platform gains the support of a few percent of voters, it
is adopted by the major parties. This is how every progressive agenda from the
abolition of slavery to marijuana reform has gained traction.

Since I don't live in a swing-state (or the swing-county of a swing-state) I
feel like voting for Third Party Platforms is the best way to make my vote
heard.

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coreymgilmore
With the current state of politics in the US, I'm not surprised by this. A
successful privately owned company being the target of "red-taping" since I
doubt SpaceX provides the political donations that a company like Boeing does.

This is unfortunate and hopefully it goes no where. Sounds like Elon needs to
get the Tesla lawyers who have reversed states' legislation against selling
cars directly to start working on this too.

~~~
Tloewald
Oddly enough, I tried out Greenhouse --
[http://allaregreen.us/](http://allaregreen.us/) \-- (the plugin that gives
you donor information for congress persons) on the four different people
cited, and big donations from defense contractors and aerospace only figured
for one of them, so it's not quite as simple as I thought. Or perhaps the
money is more cleverly disguised.

~~~
scj
From the article: "As one might expect, government officials who have such
contractors in their own districts and states are unhappy with this."

If many local jobs are being threatened, a politician would want to be seen
attempting to protect them. No bribes required.

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kelvin0
I wonder how many rolls of tape would be needed to hold a launching rocket to
it`s pad? Not taking into account the heat which would probably melt it?

~~~
Crito
A lot.

Going with the Saturn V, since information about it is widely available: 4
hold-down clamps that put out 350 metric tons each.
[http://www.hq.nasa.gov/pao/History/SP-4204/ch13-4.html](http://www.hq.nasa.gov/pao/History/SP-4204/ch13-4.html)

Best tape I can find in 20 seconds of googling: _" Super Strength II: super
heavy duty tape with 400 lbs of tensile strength (meets OSHA 29 CFR Part
1926.502)"_ [http://www.reefindustries.com/barricade-
tape.php](http://www.reefindustries.com/barricade-tape.php)

That's nearly 2000 layers of tape for each hold-down clamp, or 8000 total. How
many meters of tape that is depends on how much tape is needed per layer per
clamp. Lets say two meters, so we're talking 16km of this heavy-duty tape.
That super-heavy duty stuff comes in 300' rolls, so you would need 175 rolls
of it to hold down a Saturn V right at launch.

That is just right at launch though, when the fuel inside the rocket is doing
most of the "hold the rocket down" work. As the rocket burns more and more
fuel, you will need more and more tape to hold it down. A smaller rocket like
the F9 will require less tape.

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kelvin0
Excellent, well this means SpaceX is safe from govt. red-tape since the Reps
will be too lazy to implement this. Thanks!

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nomercy400
The good part about launching into space is that there are many places you can
launch into space, including outside of the US. Can't they just move to
another part of the world, or across some borders?

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yock
It's probably trivial for congress to classify your rocket technology as a
weapons system and forbid export.

~~~
jbigelow76
But it wouldn't be export if you're not an American company. SpaceX could move
south of the border and become SpaceMeX, problem solved :)

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seanflyon
That's not how it works. That's not how any of this works.

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snowwrestler
This stuff happens _all the time_ to major government contractors, of which
SpaceX is one. It's par for the course; call it a standard cost of doing
business with the government.

IMO it is an example of why the U.S. system of government has lasted so long:
it guides parochial self-interest and competition into constructive pathways.
In this case, members of Congress want to protect their district's pet
contractors, but the actual act is to request public disclosure of data.
Which, in the long run, is a good thing!

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stealthlogic
Typical.

