From: vince@offshore.ai (Vincent Cate) Newsgroups: sci.space.policy Subject: Space Tourism needs to be offshore? References: <3EA0C704.4979F9B7@juno.com> <79446923.0304230221.c479da0@posting.google.com> <3eac1414.3255552@supernews.seanet.com> <79446923.0304280239.59439148@posting.google.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: 207.42.133.230 r_klaehn@web.de (Rüdiger Klaehn) wrote in message > [...] If the > regulatory environment proves too harsh in the US, the focus will > shift elsewhere. But I am quite confident that we will see a > suborbital space tourism industry in the next 5 to 10 years. A lot of cryptography programmers moved offshore when the US regulatory environment was too harsh. Rocket developers may have to do the same thing. The US probably would not let Rutan export his rocket. If they would, then you could locate in a country that will let you fly, buy a rocket from Rutan, and avoid the $300 mil FAA certification trouble. Another way is to export Rutan long enough to design another rocket. The price for Rutan's whole team to spend a year or two on a tropical island developing a new rocket should be much less than $300 mil. If you locate your tourism company in the right country, you can avoid income tax. This makes the investors return much better. So I think Space Tourism will work much better outside the USA. - Vince Cate (living in the tropical tax-haven of Anguilla for 8+ years) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Vincent Cate Space Tether Enthusiast vince@offshore.ai http://spacetethers.com/ Anguilla, East Caribbean http://offshore.ai/vince ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You have to take life as it happens, but you should try to make it happen the way you want to take it. - German Proverb --------------------------------------------------------------------------------