I like Heinlein. I like the Internet. See how well the two work together:
In Robert Heinlein’s classic science-fiction story “The Man Who Sold the Moon,” an outrageously extravagant entrepreneur constructs a huge and elaborate business plan inspired by the question, “Who owns the moon?” The entrepreneur has noticed that the moon only passes directly over those parts of the earth within about 30 degrees of the equator (more or less the Third World), and given that property rights are generally understood to extend down to the center of the earth and upward without limit, he asks himself, what if someone set about buying up the “lunar claims” of these Third World “Moon States.”
It’s an entertaining story, but it’s just science fiction. Greg Wyler is a real-world entrepreneur who merely plans to hook up the 3 billion people in the Moon States to the World Wide Web. His company, O3B Networks, has as its mission to make the Internet accessible and affordable to the “other three billion” (hence “O3B”) people in the developing world, enriching lives and ensuring fair and equal access to information throughout the entire world.
I waited to post to this but now I got to say. The article does not reflect the tone of or the individualistic spirit of The Man Who Sold the Moon, Not in the least! The company is looking for investors to buy a potential pig in a poke. To get in bed with a government monopoly of communication resources. Did I miss something?
The casual relation to Heinlein’s premise, the ownership of space over the near equatorial region of space, does not work anymore. UN treaties and years of practice have made the concept mute. I wish the guy well but—It looks like a scam to me.
I think investing with SpaceX or with Paul Allen and Burt Rutan in Space Ship One is the way to go for private investment. I think cost to orbit is too high for either of these programs to pan out but I wish them well. And I think they over estimate the number of people willing to pay a hundred thousand dollars for a suborbital ride.
Unfortunately I don’t have the resources to invest in either and wouldn’t if I could. Well I take that last back. SpaceX does have potential. They are aiming for other than short term passenger flights. Low cost to orbit is anothe of their goals. Anyway my 2 cents worth.
The referenced article misses the point entirely.