How the recently dissolved California Space Authority wasted millions of dollars in federal earmarks and grants
How the recently dissolved California Space Authority wasted millions of dollars in federal earmarks and grants.
Sadly, this story is typical of many quasi-public/private authorities, most of which have nothing to do with the aerospace industry. There is a lot of one hand washing the other, using money the federal government nonchalantly gives away as if it is water.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
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How the recently dissolved California Space Authority wasted millions of dollars in federal earmarks and grants.
Sadly, this story is typical of many quasi-public/private authorities, most of which have nothing to do with the aerospace industry. There is a lot of one hand washing the other, using money the federal government nonchalantly gives away as if it is water.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
The article you link to and your commentary is a specious.
Here’s a little background information that might educate you and your readers about the situation.
The California Space Authority was a membership-based organization. It’s members paid dues to maintain its advocacy functions on behalf of the space enterprise community. While it did obtain government contracts from time to time to perform specific functions or tasks, it cannot be considered a taxpayer-funded organization. It may be fair to criticism contracts where deliverables weren’t utilized, but place blame where blame is due. CSA faithfully and successfully completed all of its contractual obligations and in many cases the programs they managed were implemented. However, when products were shelved by state and/or federal government bureaucrats when they were completed be sure your charges of waste are placed where they belong. No contractor can control what the contracting authority does with the contracted work.
In fact, CSA’s many successes included a total refurbishment of dilapidated and abandoned engine test stands at the Air Force Research Laboratory in the Mojave Desert (which, by the way, are very much now in use). Considering the closure of many other test stand facilities in California due to civic encroachment, this effort has been very successful in maintaining engine testing business California — read that as generating jobs and tax revenue to this state. CSA also worked with the FAA to establish the rules and regulations that today govern inland space launch and , paving the way for the growth of commercial space launch technologies which have, up to now, largely based themselves in California. And, CSA has been the leading advocate in stopping the cable industry from securing state imposed taxes on satellite television service. With out CSA, that opposition is no longer. These are just a few of the many, many activities and successes that have come from CSA. It could certainly never have been likened to an organization having “nothing to do with the aerospace industry.”
I’m sure you and your readers also know that virtually every other space organization in the country is a taxpayer function. The New Mexico Spaceport Authority is a government entity. Spaceport Florida is a function of the Governor’s office of Florida and paid for wholly with taxpayer funds. It’s leadership was appointed by the Governor and the Legislature. Alaska, Utah, Colorado, Virginia, Maryland, Texas and even Wisconsin are largely state government organizations. In California, however, CSA was not a government entity. It was non-profit organization and its leadership was elected from amongst the industry itself.
As for the Space Center, CSA had been working with the Air Force at Vandenberg in hopes of siting the facility on federal property so that it might move via the federal NEPA process. Once it was learned that the center had to go through state CEQA regulations instead of the NEPA process, CSA pulled the project and the City of Lompoc stepped in to help. But the land offered up for the facility by the City ended up not being compatible for all aspects of the Center. This land was dedicated only for educational purposes and the Space Center only penciled out if it included an office park for Vandenberg contractors. With no site for the project, fundraising was futile and with no fundraising the Board of Directors chose to end the project and close the organization.
Hopefully, the City of Lompoc can salvage the concept of a Space Center. But it’ll be too late for the good work done by the good people of CSA.