Yes, but it doesn't take lots of experts and billions of dollars to build an API, I would think.
And yes, we've seen tremendous innovation from SpaceX - but where would they be without that knowledge and experience from NASA? Just because NASA has been turned into a bureaucratic mess with funding that bounces around doesn't mean they haven't created a lot of value and new knowledge, most of which would never have been funded by the private sector. Government work isn't about having good returns on money spent, which strikes me as both a blessing and a curse.
I wonder how many current day innovations have sprung from the initial work of places like the DOE National Labs, and how many might in the future, for all that it's a government program.
> Yes, but it doesn't take lots of experts and billions of dollars to build an API, I would think.
Refer (3) in my original top post. This is something they would prove remarkably adept at achieving.
> ...but where would they be without that knowledge and experience from NASA?
Exactly! A thousand times so! Releasing their knowledge and experience that only a government funded entity could have amassed (c.f. raw data), has sling-shot a private enterprise capable of rapid innovation. This is precisely why I think that releasing the raw data is the most beneficial outcome.
And yes, we've seen tremendous innovation from SpaceX - but where would they be without that knowledge and experience from NASA? Just because NASA has been turned into a bureaucratic mess with funding that bounces around doesn't mean they haven't created a lot of value and new knowledge, most of which would never have been funded by the private sector. Government work isn't about having good returns on money spent, which strikes me as both a blessing and a curse.
I wonder how many current day innovations have sprung from the initial work of places like the DOE National Labs, and how many might in the future, for all that it's a government program.