Free Money From Obama

So, I read in the Chronicle that rocket maker SpaceX is poised to deliver 1000 pounds of water, food and equipment to the International Space Station at a cost of $133 million for the first of 12 missions. That works out to $133,000 per pound. By contrast, the cost of a Space Shuttle launch last year was roughly $500 Million, but could deliver 50,000 pounds. That works out to only $10,000 per pound.

In addition, the Shuttle System could deliver and install massive components, haul away the garbage, fix the plumbing, clean the windows, replace the crew, adjust the solar panels, top off all fluids and do a 64 point inspection for no additional charge.

Don't get me wrong: I've been a big critic of the Shuttle: a system that requires you to launch a building into space when a canister would do, and the Shuttle never came close to delivering on the promised $100 per pound payload cost projected back in the 60s and 70s, but by any measure, it appears to be a bargain compared to the vendors that have replaced it. 

 

SpaceX's website forthrightly explains why.  Although there's massive happy-talk about delivering "launch" costs of $1000 per pound or less, their website confirms the $133 million cost to "deliver" 1000 pounds of product to the space station, along with some blahbeddyblah about the costs associated with the Dragon space capsule necessary to dock with the ISS.  Seriously?  I wonder how far UPS would have gotten if they quoted delivery prices based on getting the product to your building, then Jacked the price another 90% to actually carry it to your office? 

 

At first glance, it looks like NASA has replaced one boondoggle with an even bigger one.  That is, until you peel back a few layers of the onion.  Do that and you discover that all private sector contracts for space trucking have been awarded to companies that make big contributions to Democrats.  Let's take a look at SpaceX as Exhibit A:

 

Elon Musk - CEO of SpaceX - is no stranger to government handouts from the Obama administration.  In addition to the $278 Million he got to develop low earth orbit cargo ships from Obama, he also got the aforementioned $1.4 Billion contract for 12 measly deliveries. 

 

Musk also got $400 million from Obama for the Tesla electric car, which is set to retail for around $100K per vehicle. It gets better. Musk is a principle at SolarCity, which got $275 Million from Obama for a no-bid contract to put solar cells on military bases and then sell the energy back to the military. In short, Obama provided the startup capital, the customer, a guaranteed revenue stream and still has taxpayers on the hook if Musk fucks this up. BTW, SolarCity is under IRS investigation for monkey business on application for Fed energy tax credits.

 

No evidence that Musk is collecting food stamps, welfare, Medicaid, housing assistance or a battery powered wheelchair at little or no cost to him, but those would be the only things in the Obama Goodies Bag he's not tapping into. Musk is of course a big contributor to Obama.