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> Yeah for what did we consolidate the whole industry into a few giants like NG, LM and Boeing when you can not then ask them to shoulder some risk? Up until

> Yeah for what did we consolidate the whole industry into a few giants like NG, LM and Boeing when you can not then ask them to shoulder some risk? Up until recently, there was no profit motive to create private rockets, so the government was the only source of work on rockets. The government doesn't need that many rockets, so it's not shocking that there are a small number of contractors. And no, you can't just force them to shoulder risk. They're private companies that aren't contractually obligated to accept other contracts. If we wanted someone we could force risk onto, we would need a public entity that designs and manufactures the rockets. Or rather, I guess we could legislatively force them to accept the risk, but I would expect private capital to flee, so it would become a de facto public organization.

panick21_ 4y ago
Ironically there were far more contractors in the past. Just look at the journey COTS, form Orbital -> Orbital ATK -> NG. > Up until recently, there was no profit motive to create private rockets Had the government not artificially pushed Shuttle, there would actually have been a quite large commercial market. A US launch vehicle could very much have competed against Ariane 3 and Soyuz. > And no, you can't just force them to shoulder risk. Rocket launches in the 90s were not some crazy future risk. Doing a COTS style program for rockets was 100% viable. > If we wanted someone we could force risk onto, we would need a public entity that designs and manufactures the rockets. No you only need a public entity willing to buy a a lot of launches.