Historical Analogs for the Stimulation of Space Commerce: Monographs in Aerospace History, no. 54 by Roger D. Launius

Author:Roger D. Launius [Launius, Roger D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: NASA
Published: 2014-06-17T04:00:00+00:00

Might the U.S. government foster a private space communications system that can serve the needs of all users on a commercial basis, rather than having NASA own its on TDRSS satellites? What is the future of space communications?

Supporting Scientific Research in Antarctica

The American involvement in Antarctica dates to the 19th century, but it was limited to separate spheres of private commercial ventures and public scientific pursuits much of the time. Many of the 19th-century private interests in Antarctica centered on the sealing and whaling industries. By the early 20th century, according to Richard E. Byrd, “in summertime, its waters swarm with Norwegian whalers who annually harvest a revenue of $15,000,000 from their catch.”169 The expeditions of Robert F. Scott, Ernest Shackleton, and others revealed Antarctic deposits of iron, coal, titanium, and copper. Yet beyond the few natural resources discovered and the sealing and whaling industries, there was little private interest in the continent.

Richard Byrd recounted several reasons why this was the case in the interwar period. He noted that the continent was geographically isolated and its weather conditions were highly inhospitable. Prior to the heavy scientific investment of the postwar era, little was known about the continent in terms of how to navigate it, and little was known of its geology, geomagnetism, or glaciological formations. In this regard, there was little certainty of how navigational instruments would operate. Flight was still in its infancy and incapable of doing much to open the territory. Byrd fully believed that there were reasons to exploit the resources of Antarctica, but he recognized that use and profit had a long way to go before realization. He did not discount the scientific community’s interest in Antarctica, but he wanted to advance commercial motivations.170 Byrd recounted that “Antarctica[,] ‘a vast wonderland laid out on a giant scale, in which littleness has no place,’ cannot be judged, or appraised, according to limited values.” He expressed disappointment: “[V]ainly did I [Richard Byrd] try to impress this fact upon a well-known American business man. ‘But where’s the money in it? Where’s the profit[?]’ he demanded.”171 After his failure to convince others of the commercial opportunities in Antarctica, scientific inquiry and discovery remained America’s chief interests in Antarctica other than the offshore private whaling and sealing industry.

This did not change until the opening of major U.S. permanent sites on the continent during the International Geophysical Year (IGY) of 1957–58. The initial mission of the IGY was to study the geophysics of Earth’s polar regions, but this mandate eventually expanded to include a wide range of scientific efforts. The Antarctic program fostered collaborative research with other countries and “comprises research by scientists selected from universities and other research institutions and operations and support by a contractor and other agencies of the U.S. Government.”172

Everyone realized that human exploration of the polar regions and scientific research there were both costly and life-threatening. The U.S. federal government pursued these activities for the public good throughout much of the 20th century. These were fundamentally governmental activities.

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