Space" $-$ Answer For Critical Thinking Question

Space shuttles that NASA flew and re$-$flew during a generation of suborbital spaceflight were among the only materials that NASA did not jettison in orbit, allow to disintegrate or crash, or leave on the moon. Virtually all other materials utilized over the course of seven decades of space missions effectively were scrapped after a single use NASA's primary mission objectives involved speedily proving that various aspects of spaceflight and exploration were or were not feasible with available technology and given the agency's annual budget funded by taxpayers. Minimizing overall expenses by designing systems and equipment that could be used more than once were not key elements of NASA's planning or operations.

Private spaceflight companies, in contrast, incur ongoing expenses tha reflect the full opportunity costs of all resources devoted to space travel instead of alternative purposes. The private resources dedicated to placing a satellite into orbit around the earth otherwise could be utilized to transport fresh lobsters to restaurants at various points around the planet.

United Parcel Service and FedEx react to having to pay all of the expenses entailed in transporting fresh lobsters to restaurants by reusing planes and trucks over the course of several years. In like manner, private firms such as SpaceX and United Launch Alliance are responding to incurring all relevant opportunity costs of allocating resources to spaceflight by reusing rocket parts, boosters, and capsule

For Critical Thinking

Why might privately financed spaceflight add less each year to the clutter of abandoned materials in orbit as compared with past annual jettisons of materials by NASA and agencies funded by European and Asian governments?