Re: Vision of the three Rs: Regular, Reliable and Reusable

Derek Lyons wrote:
In other words - pork and handouts.

Yeah, it's a subsidy on water in LEO/GTO.

I believe I'm right in saying that subsidies can be economically justified in situations where the long-term situation is one where the lower prices are going to be in line with the subsidy.

In other words, if off-earth water will cost $10/kg or $100/kg or whatever then a subsidy down to that price can end up in the long term enabling that situation. (Based on the subsidy Lockmart would presumably redesign their vehicles to use water in any way that is appropriate, creating a market for water, and the market would enable people to justify doing assays on Phobos, Deimos and the moon and so forth on relatively short-term financial grounds.)

With care, the government might be able to claw back the cost of the subsidy out of tax on the industries later on.

D.
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Relevant Pages

  • Re: Vision of the three Rs: Regular, Reliable and Reusable
    ... :>:In the case of a subsidy on water, if it turns out that water isn't ... :>:the market is at that point in time. ... All the government would need to do is accept orders for water ...
    (sci.space.policy)
  • Re: Vision of the three Rs: Regular, Reliable and Reusable
    ... Fred J. McCall wrote: ... :In the case of a subsidy on water, if it turns out that water isn't:useful for anything then the subsidy wouldn't cost much, since it:wouldn't be a 100% subsidy, so people wouldn't waste their money:launching/buying water if they don't need to. ... And if water is useful:then you've just proven that there's a market, and you've shown how big:the market is at that point in time. ...
    (sci.space.policy)
  • Re: Vision of the three Rs: Regular, Reliable and Reusable
    ... :In the case of a subsidy on water, if it turns out that water isn't ... so people wouldn't waste their money ... :the market is at that point in time. ...
    (sci.space.policy)
  • Re: Vision of the three Rs: Regular, Reliable and Reusable
    ... In the case of a subsidy on water, if it turns out that water isn't useful for anything then the subsidy wouldn't cost much, since it wouldn't be a 100% subsidy, so people wouldn't waste their money launching/buying water if they don't need to. ... And if water is useful then you've just proven that there's a market, and you've shown how big the market is at that point in time. ...
    (sci.space.policy)
  • Re: Vision of the three Rs: Regular, Reliable and Reusable
    ... price where there is NO market is a waste of resources. ... supply subsidy if the demand curve is flat and damned near zero at all ... like "water will get delivered to orbits ... Go calculate the energy cost of changing the orbit of something once ...
    (sci.space.policy)
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