This is an interesting piece, but it feels like there's a major gap in it: what's NOAA's story? The government does silly things, yes, but this isn't a bridge

This is an interesting piece, but it feels like there's a major gap in it: what's NOAA's story? The government does silly things, yes, but this isn't a bridge to nowhere. It's an ongoing investment backed by scientists and politicians alike. It's already seen repeated commercial failures, so that can't be an unexpected result. So is this mostly about investigating new technology, instead of starting companies? Is it about driving down tech prices until companies are profitable? Is the long game to push China on environmental regulations and have something ready when US markets become more desirable? Basically, I'm suspicious of an article that implies everyone involved is setting money on fire for fun, or because they love environmental disasters. We don't even get to see NOAA's nominal justification here, much less a deeper analysis.