No harsh feelings at all. There is, indeed, a necessary public sector exposure to the industry, much like things like NIH grants, the CDC, even (though I won’t try to argue it) the NEA, if the Humanities are one’s thing.
You pool the risk for new tech, then let the deeper pockets assume the risk for rewards. Everyone wins.
I agree.
Personally, I would like to see NASA become more like an NACA of the 21st century. The NACA conducted pure research into aviation (windtunnel tests on wing shapes, cross sections, materials, etc.) and disseminated this information to the US Aviation industry. This way, both large and small manufacturers could benefit from research that, if done by individual companies, would have been time consuming and costly. NASA should serve a more supportive role for private space development. They do perform pure research into aerospace, but they can do more to get out of the way and help support more private activity “up there”. Heck, open the ISS to access by private industry.