[FPSPACE] the MirCorp debate

[M.Wade@iaea.org]

Clearly the answer has to be that a joint Russian-Indian space station
module is a very long-term project, and not even Energia forsees having Mir
in operation, say, five years from now.... considering the incredibly
protracted Indo-Russian military aerospace projects, one would probably have
to be thinking in decades..

In regard to payment for trips to Mir, there are lots of commercial
instruments - letters of credit, performance bonds, etc - that can be used
to guarantee payment to the recipient (so that they can get loans to cover
the cost of doing the work) but the buyer is protected (no payment made
until services delivered). I have no idea what they might be using in these
cases...

MirCorp is milking the asset-in-being as long as possible - is NASA paying
enough attention to the possibility of substantial early space tourism for
those with very deep pockets (the marginal cost of extra seats on the
shuttle could be relatively low...)

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Mark Wade