Well I, for one, don't intend to wait around for NASA. I long ago realized that some day I'm going to be in charge of something and I'm going to need access to skilled people for my team. So I got out and started engaging in civic activities reflecting my interests, including space.

Part of NASA's problem is that there's no transition from the old-timers nearing retirement and the twenty-somethings coming in at that bottom end. This is largely the result of a corporate culture that doesn't value cultivation of its best and brightest. This led to the decimation of the ranks of Gen Xers back in the 90s during the Goldin years. So now we have a generation gap to Gen Y, and NASA can't figure out how to bridge it.

That's why the brilliant PR piece involving the upturned tub of LEGOs (with an astronaut tumbling to the fore) leading to a grasping reach towards a Mars globe was initially rejected by NASA. Someone who saw it was smart enough to cache it on a NASA server and word started trickling out till finally folks started hearing about it.

The old timers don't understand why it's so important to the kids that space efforts be of benefit to Earth. Pretty pictures are nice, and all, but how is that relevant to bettering life here on Earth? We know all about weather satellites and inter-continental telephone calls, but what have you done for us lately?

That's why I'm trying to focus on near-Earth, near-future developments for the 2007 ISDC. Exhibits of hardware that people can see as examples of fine American space technology, top speakers in three main tracks: Transport, Moon & cislunar space, and Mars & beyond, as well as space consumer goods.

It's one of our great industries, we should be celebrating it!