A.S.P.

On the need for an Alberta Space Program.

kj · September 14, 2004

Hon. Ralph Klein
Premier of Alberta

307, 10800 – 97 Ave
Edmonton, AB
T5K 2B7

Dear Ralph:

Hi Ralph. Kjell Wooding here—one of the editors of the weekly Internet serial, pintday.org. Thanks for your prompt reply last time we corresponded. It is refreshing to deal with a politician who is receptive to the opinions of his constituents.

I am writing you today in response to your recent call for input on the future of spending in Alberta—specifically, to offer an opinion on how we should spend the great gobs of cash that will be rolling in for the foreseeable $40-dollar-a-barrel future.

Congratulations, by the way, on shepherding Alberta to its current debt-free status. It’s certainly a unique and enviable position to be in. I imagine you have already started receiving gobs of mail offering suggestions on how we should be spending our money from here on in. In fact, let me guess what many of these letters are suggesting we invest in:

Improved Health Care.
Improved Education.
Provincial Infrastructure.
Tax cuts.

Those are all nice suggestions, but they’re pretty much the automatic ones, aren’t they? And by automatic, I mean boring. You don’t want the final term of your political career to be a boring one, do you?

No, I had in mind something a little more radical. The fact is, health care is okay. Education is tolerable. Our infrastructure works, and, though we might bitch a lot, our tax burden isn’t entirely unmanageable. Throwing money at these problems is pretty much tossing money down a black hole. No, what Alberta needs at this historic moment is vision.

Ralph, I think it’s time to start up an Alberta Space Program.

Now, before you dismiss me as just another crank, let me be plain that I do not expect, or want the Alberta Government to get into the business of shooting tin cans into orbit. That would be foolish. Just look at the nightmare that NASA has gotten itself into: incapable of even sending a working oxygen generator to its astronaut marooned on the International Space Station.

No, I am not proposing we form an AASA. (That would be AASAnine. Heh.). Instead, I am proposing that Alberta foster a space program through the use of incentives; that is, develop a prize-oriented program, similar to the Ansari X-prize—a program which has already seen a civilian astronaut fly a recoverable aircraft to the boundary of outer space.

In short, I’d like to see the Alberta Government offer incentives such as the following:

$5 million for the first Alberta-based project to send an individual to the boundary of space.
$8 million for the first Alberta-based project to launch a payload to orbit
$15 million for the first Alberta-based project to send a crew of 3 to space twice within a month (i.e. emulate the X-prize)
$20 million for the first Alberta-based project to send an individual to the International Space Station. (and get them back, of course)

I know, Ralph, it sounds a little crazy. But if you think about it, the risk incurred by the Alberta Government is essentially zero. A prize-based system pays only if a project is successful, and the capital outlay required is, well, peanuts. Can you imagine the boost to Alberta’s (currently nonexistent) aerospace industry if people manage to actually hit these milestones? Today, the Russians are the only ones capable of reliably sending humans into space. What would it mean to this province (and this country) if we could do it, too?

I admit, an Alberta Space Program (or, Alberta Space Prize) seems a little extravagant at first glance; however, I heartily urge you to give this prize-based incentive program a second thought. The upside? Unimaginable development in aerospace and related industries. . The downside? None, really. If the projects fail, no taxpayer money is spent. With a little vision (and the promise of a little cash), the Alberta Advantage could literally pave the way to the stars. And that sound a heck of a lot more exciting than paving roads, or scanning CATs, doesn’t it? I certainly think so.

So thanks for your attention Ralph, and congratulations again on achieving a debt-free province. I look forward to hearing from you in the near future.

Sincerely,

Kjell Wooding

Tuesday, September 14, 2004
PD DCLXIX

cc: pintday.org, Hon. Ron Stevens