Exploring the Unknown - NASA's History Office

EXPLORING THE UNKNOWN 517
Implementation Plan
Activity
Schedule
77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89
Action By Sponsor
• Research and Development
– Ground Experiments
– Sounding Rocket
Experiments
– Shuttle Sortie
Experiments
• Pilot Plant
• Commercial Plants
• Extend Sovereignty
to Spacecraft
•Waivers, Commercial
Rights
•Test Market
Figure 24. Milestone schedule
Physical Properties
Meniscus Shaping
Processing Apparatus Development
Sounding Rocket Flights
Physical Properties
Crystal Growth
Meniscus Shaping
Shuttle Flights
Ribbon Growth
Apparatus Evaluation
Ribbon Characterization
Plant Launch
Systems Engineering
Apparatus Engineering
Operational Evaluation
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Document title: “Space Industrialization: Final Report,” Volume 1. Executive Summary,
SD 78-AP-0055-1, Rockwell International Space Division, Contract NAS8-32198, April 14,
1978, pp. 1–8.
Source: NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
By the late 1970s, with the first launch of the Space Shuttle approaching, and with plans beginning
to form for building a space station and/or larger platforms in space, NASA took particular interest
in having industry study the possible uses of space for profit-making activities. This represented the
first steps in thinking about the commercialization of space activities in areas other than satellite
telecommunications. These “roadmaps” for the industrialization of space included economic analyses.
Unlike the earlier benefit-cost projections, these futuristic looks emphasized more traditional business
tools, including rates of return to investment and the relative demand for goods and services coupled
with prices and costs. However, the true value of this and other studies of the era was the identification
of space technologies with nonspace market demands that could be met through the use of space.
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