Creating space for the private sector in space exploration

With the new policy and funding for NASA unveiled recently, there has been a lot of talk about the US Government giving up spending money (and it does take billions) to maintain its leadership in space exploration and related technologies. What the US appears to be doing however, is creating space for private sector participation in the final frontier.

Esther Dyson does a good job in FP of arguing that the new policy is actually a positive development. I really like her comparison with the decision decades ago on allowing the public to use and improve the Internet rather than leaving it only in the control of the military. See http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/02/08/prepare_for_liftoff