Website Structure

Honestly, I did not have to really Google or search the web much to find the website that has to do with my topic. The website I am talking about is called SPACE.com and I have actually used this website for the paper we just wrote also. Even though the website sounds unoriginal and probably unreliable, I found it to be very informative. Overall, the website is set up as sort of a news website dealing with all aspects of space. Since my paper was focused on private space companies, I noticed there was a tab labeled "Spaceflight" that had articles regarding many private space companies and their missions. This website has very good pictures and videos that draw the viewer's interest. I actually got sidetracked while writing this blog post and started watching some videos. Just in the "Spaceflight"section, there are so many stories usually with different authors so you can get different viewpoints and not just one. Later, I happened to find a section for private spaceflight but it was kind of hard to find on the homepage. I, honestly, could have wrote most of the research paper using this website alone but I know that having numerous sources is a sign of a stronger argument. There was not very many links to other websites that I could find, but I think that is because this website sort of acts as a news website itself with their own writing staff. I thought the search bar was very helpful as I could find stories strictly relating to a particular topic. Overall, this website is well organized and really informative.

Reflection

From the first blog post, I had stated that my academic interest and passion was concerned with aerospace engineering and space exploration specifically. This general topic has been the focus for all of the papers for the rest of the semester. I even made a Mind Map that branched off detailed subtopics from the governing topic of aerospace engineering. From the assigned reading about the idea of waste, I formulated an essay question of whether NASA funding was a waste of money and resources. From this paper, I learned a lot about the type of tasks NASA does outside of space exploration as well as the many views people have dealing with the funding of NASA. Afterwards, I decided to do a research paper over the private space industry. The process for the research paper was very long, but very helpful and informative. Numerous sources had to be retrieve and they had to credible at that. This was done using a little of Google's search engine, but mostly the OSU library databases. From the databases, I found numerous magazine articles, newspaper articles, and papers regarding private space companies. I learned about what many of these private space companies have done and what they are planning to do as well. I, also, learned about the contracts between NASA and a few of the private space companies, ultimately leading me to research more about the collaboration between NASA and the private space industry. Doing summaries of each source forced me to dissect the main ideas of each source giving me a better understanding of the author's viewpoints. This process in its entirety increased my knowledge about the private space industry and helped me formulate my own views on what I believe the role of it should be in regard to space exploration.

Opposition- Rebuttal

Let's face it, when it comes to the idea of space exploration, there are people out there with with reservations. Today, with NASA facing massive budget cuts from the federal budget, the private space industry is attempting to lead the way in space innovation and exploration. Even though the commercialization of space travel will decrease the overall tax paid for space travel by the citizens, there are still many out there that are against the idea of space travel being done through the private industry. These people will claim that doing such an innovative feat such as exploring the moon, an asteroid, or even a new planet should give recognition to the country rather than the title of a company. They will assert that advancements in space travel gives a sense of nationalism and should continue to be accomplished by the hands of NASA. This point of view is valid and there are many who feel this way; however, at the current state of the economy, this just can not be accomplished. Those who want to see amazing feats and accomplishments in the space field done by NASA will have to wait, and who knows for how long? This is due to the fact that NASA's accomplishments are dependent upon the funding the agency receives, and this funding is almost nonexistent right now and may continue to be nonexistent for a long period of time. So, in essence, the nation will not be recognized as a spacefaring nation if the funding is never increased. Total space commercialization is not the solution either, but the collaboration of both NASA and the private space industry will sustain space exploration for the U.S. The private sector can make routine low- earth orbit trips to go to the International Space Station or other smaller tasks and NASA can be researching and planning for major tasks such as the exploration of Mars and beyond. Accomplishments arising from a collaboration of these two entities will truly be recognized as a national effort before an effort credited to a company.

Reaction to Sources

I agree with Michael Burgan that the Guggenheim family in the past investing in rocketry is parallel to what wealthy investors are doing today. If the phrase "history repeats itself" holds true, then I agree with him that private space industry will be a success today.

I agree with Peter Diamandis that due to the amount of precious metals and minerals potentially waiting to be discovered, many investors are eager to invest in such an opportunity.

I disagree with panelists mentioned in James Figueroa's article that are arguing that space exploration is too dangerous and risky for private space companies. I believe that due to the greater amount of resources private space companies possess, greater research and care will go into the safety of these projects.

Emma Haak makes a strong point in "Space, The Private Frontier" that private space companies. at the end of the day, are trying to advance space exploration to put the United States on top. With NASA slowing down currently, these private space companies will do all it takes to keep the U.S. at the forefront of space exploration.

I agree with McKelvey's assertion that the role private space companies will take on is to do some of the tasks NASA cannot do as cheap. NASA will no longer be the sole player in the space industry but a consumer of many companies.

Redd makes a valid point about how private space companies have an advantage over government agencies as they are free to take more risks without criticism. Citizens are not paying their tax dollars for private space companies' missions so they are not as judgmental.

Choosing My Topic

Coming up with my research topic was not as easy as I thought it would have been. Honestly, at first, I wanted to choose the same topic I did for the first paper which was whether spending money and resources was a waste or not, but I did not know if I could do that so I started searching for new topics. I considered choosing a topic potentially dealing with airplanes for that is a major aspect of my major, but my interest truly is in the space field so I did not think that I would get as passionate about the paper, probably resulting in a poorer paper. So, I started Googling vague things such as "space exploration topics" and was having a really hard time finding a topic that I truly thought I could write a lot about. I, then, searched "space" on Reddit and saw the topics with the comments and discussions dealt with private space industry. Private space industry interests me a lot, for it is probably where I want to work in the future. So, now I knew I was going to write about the private space industry, but still did not know what exactly to write about pertaining to this. After reading comments from earlier blog posts and discussion posts, I came to the conclusion of writing about how private space companies and NASA can work together. I wanted to write about what overall role the private space industry will have on space exploration. Will they partner with NASA? Will they do the small jobs for NASA? Will they do their own thing? I found a bunch of sources afterwards discussing the current statuses of many private space companies and their plans. These will help to write about how they will coexist with the government sector in space exploration.

Research Success

So since Essay 2 due was this week, I really had to step up my game with gathering useful sources for my topic. I primarily searched for articles using the library website this time since that is where most of the sources are supposed to come from. I had a lot of trouble finding any useful articles last week when using the OSU databases, but I had a lot of success this time. I tried out different combinations of words  relating to my research topic to put in the search box this time. A slight change in wording resulted in many different results. Proquest was the database that most of my sources came from, but I also found a few on the LexisNexis Academic database. Some of the sources I used did not list an author. I think this was because they were found in magazines. I was hesitant, at first, to use these sources for I felt they may not have been very credible, but they had very good information so I included them. In my last blog post, I had trouble finding current, up- to- date sources, but I probably was not looking hard enough because surprisingly, this time around, I ended with all my sources being fairly new. I even had a few that were just published less than a few months ago. Reading through all these articles and picking out the key points and useful information really gave me a better understanding on the subject. Having these annotation summaries will be very useful when writing the actual paper.

Search Deeper

I have still been looking for useful sources of information for the second paper. The library databases are what I have been primarily using for articles regarding information of private space companies. Two days ago, SpaceX, who is pretty much the leader in private space, sent a cargo capsule to the International Space Station successfully. Due to this recent breakthrough, there have been a lot of articles talking about it. They talk about what it means to the private space industry now and how it could pave the way for the future. I am still short of sources for the second paper so I need to step up my research game. Like I mentioned in the previous blog post or discussion post (I can't remember which one), finding articles that have different views on the subject is difficult. I actually found a website that is in the form of a debate, naturally it is called www.debate.org, that seems really helpful and interesting. I do not think it can really be used as a credible source as it is just different users debating their views with each other. However, this is one of the first sources I have found that really discuss the disadvantages of private sector investment in human space flight and exploration. The debater against the idea uses the argument that private space companies will ultimately only do what it takes to make a profit whereas government regulated space travel has an interest in gaining knowledge for the good of the people. Also, the debater argues that private space companies will struggle with diplomatic matters when international space flight is an issue. Overall, I find this website helpful for me to gain a better understanding. Now, I might try to search for different things specifically about the private space industry that I learn from this online debate.