[FPSPACE] should MirCorp become philanthropic foundation?

[David Anderman]

First off, we don't know if the political pressures on the Russian 
government to de-orbit Mir will be successful or not, so there may not be a 
Mir after January 2000. Secondly, we don't know if the Mir IPO will be 
successful or not. In the event that the IPO fails to generate significant 
investment in MirCorp, then there won't be any money for future Progresses, 
and Mir will fall into the ocean. So, I don't think that there's a window 
of opportunity for a not-for-profit to generate any significant money for 
Mir. Certainly, a 'trickle' of money won't keep Mir alive. Note that 
MirCorp has raised over $30 million in funds for RSC Energia, which is much 
more than a trickle (unless trickles of cash in S. Africa are bigger than 
those in the USA).

David Anderman



At 12:29 PM 10/19/00 +0200, KEITH GOTTSCHALK wrote:
>4) So to call a spade a spade, would it not make sense for
>MirCorp to become a philanthropic foundation, which means
>that donations to  it are tax deductable?  The Planetary
>Society, & I presume the  NSS or NSF, have given donations
>to space projects in the past. For example, hiring a
>post-doc to run & analyse data received by a
>radio-telescope, after NASA funding was not renewed.