Burt can try all he wants. Claiming NASA rather than physics is holding him back is baloney. If you don't want to spend your tax dollars on space research that is certainly your right, just don't count on Burt to come up with the resources to do it on his own. The record of the private market saviors we heard so much about a few years ago is abyssmal. NASA has tried to rescue a few of these as well as helping long term contractors by providing funds through the space launch initiative.

NASA has done a poor job opening a path to space IMO, but that is due to the conflicting demands placed on the shuttle design, a lack of direction to do anything else for many years, a poor choice in X-33, AND the difficulty of the task. We can and should demand NASA should do better, but we shouldn't rely on private launch companies with little market and even smaller funding if we wish to achieve CATS. The private market will be far more efficient than NASA at advancing the technology once we cross the start-up barrier. That barrier is that the investment cost is not justified with the current demonstrated market. Drop the cost enough to open the market wide, then let private enterprise take over.

We may well need to rethink the whole approach and develop separate vehicles for personel transport and cargo. We don't need the same level of reliability to deliver cargo as people.

Regards,
Mark