I have a student who made the claim that NASA actually brings in revenues that exceed the Govt. expenditures for NASA.
He couldn't remember where he had read this. I suspect some persons blog or some cranks website.
Does anyone here know if this is true? Or where I can find out? I've searched NASA's site and don't find anything there. Surely the GAO tracks NASA's revenue generating activities?
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I really doubt this is true but I've forwarded your question to a friend who's a sober and (politically and technically) well informed NASA watcher. We'll see what he comes up with.
In the meantime...
Just off the top of my head, I can think of two potentially robust RGAs:
* Satellite launches for businesses and other governments (this is a lucrative area for the Europeans, Chinese and a few other space capable groups -- particularly miniaturized satellites.)
* Charge backs from DoD commissioned projects -- i.e., NASA is tasked with birthing complex tech, such as aerospike engines (Wiki this if you're unfamiliar, it's a truly lovely bit of engineering) and is 'paid' for the work.
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And maybe a third: income generated from joint deep space exploration projects such as the Cassini Huygens mission to Saturn and her moons. The Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) has a long, proven track record of getting robots to and on distant bodies. Others may be as good but no one's better. Perhaps they charge for knowledge transfer and loaning out talent.
Oh and perhaps a fourth possibility: the licensing of technologies. Miniature sats were pioneered by the Goddard Space Flight Center. Maybe the firms deploying them have to pay fees.
Even though I can imagine these activities (that is, if my assumptions are correct) bringing in a good amount of coin, I doubt it matches, let alone exceeds NASA's budget.
.d.