This is a Special Edition of both Comments From Gimmick Command and The Space Age Craze. I’m Ben Faltinowski, Gimmick Commander of this blog.
Over the past 10 years, we’ve seen a great shift in the Air and Space Industry. Namely the move from Government sponsored spacecraft development and flight over to the private sector.
While this is great to see that the space program is viable and no longer under government pressure and influence by politicians using it as a chess piece to forward their own agendas, it has caused something adverse to come into an industry that supported employment longevity and growth for individuals passionate about the space industry.
Unfortunately, this passion is not rewarded anymore when overhead costs and figures come into play.
In many companies now, the layoff threat and attrition rate has exponentially risen with the influx of companies and upper management doing whatever it takes to save money, including getting laying off loyal employees. 
The good news is that other space jobs abound . . . if you’re willing to move to another part of the country and abandon family, friends, and social networks just to continue to call yourself by the trade you earned your degree in. This has become uncontrollable in a similar manner to the credit extensions for folks who really did not have the ratings to get them in the early 2000’s just before the Mortgage Crisis.
While these are legitimate problems that need to be addressed, what I’m saying here is that there are many Air and Space Workers that feel helpless against this.
Some firms have also operated under the notion that the sun rises and sets on their employees’ dreams to work (on Aircraft, Rockets, Spacecraft, Satellites, and anything else Space related) by whims of managers who want them gone if it saves overhead expenses, or another Air/Space company that select someone else on a job application.
Unless you’re guilty of gross negligence and/or direct violation of company policies, like I stated in my last Comments From Gimmick Command . . . IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT!
The issue is that the Corporate system setup in the Space Industry right now might have worked well at one time or even in other industries, but is increasingly showing signs of overstaying it’s welcome, especially with employees who are made to feel like they are expendable overhead. Again, PLEASE note that not all space firms feel or act like this, but I am addressing the select few who do.
It’s time for a change. How is that proposed? It’s time to give the Space Industry back to those that are most inspired by it and love it . . . those that might actually be ON THE “OUTSIDE” OF THE SPACE INDUSTRY!!!
I’m talking about young children, students taking science classes, college students pursuing their dreams in STEM disciplines, parents reading stories of astronauts going to the Moon, and your Comic-Con sci-fi enthusiasts.
The Quest for Space doesn’t belong to just several wealthy space entrepreneurs or corporate managers (as worthy and helpful as they have truly been in many respects), it belongs to EARTH. To PEOPLE. To EVERYONE . . . PERIOD!
This begs several questions:
Is it time for the public to have their own grassroots space program?
Should the public fly their own suborbital and orbital rockets?
Should the public build their own space habitats?
Should they create space technologies to support astronaut self-sustainability (solar tech, hydroponic farming, recycling, etc)?
Should they build their own spacecraft like manned craft and unmanned satellites?
Could it even mean the public and even private citizens explore alternate propulsion systems that could revolutionize space travel, and do things akin to the suspected UFO’s observed?
The answer to all those questions is a resounding YES!!!!!
Copenhagen Suborbitals in Denmark is setting a potential example. They have already made suborbital flights through the work of VOLUNTEER engineers and scientists, and crowdfunded by the public. As time goes on, you’re seeing more upstarts and individual citizens gravitating away from corporate and governmental reigns to pursue their dream. And they’re working on it WITHOUT BIG MONEY but rather through donations and Crowdfunding.
What am I saying? Why would Gimmick Commander Ben say all of this? Because I’m making an important announcement.
The Great Galactic Space Gimmick is going to evolve past just being a space/science blog. It’s becoming a rallying cry to common people everywhere letting them know that Spaceflight and Space Exploration is THEIRS, and belongs to no person, official, or corporation exclusively. If that involves “The Gimmick” forming or facilitating a private space program and space technologies, . . . well . . . that IS what I’m saying!
The founding idea is a Space and Science Program consisting of regular students . . . Elementary through College PhD’s. Also consisting of regular, ordinary professionals like welders, pyrotechnic experts, freelance physicists, scientists, and auto/vehicle mechanics.
And yes, have members of the “geek-squad” sci-fi addicts that go to Comic-Con, Star Trek conventions, and other places as the “heart and inspiration” of this endeavor.
No doubt others have considered and thought of this before. It’s OK . . . and I think it’s great! The idea is Space Flight and Exploration is MINE. It’s YOURS. It’s YOUR NEIGHBORS. It’s YOUR FAMILY’S. It’s EVERYONES, and no one can tell you that you can’t. The quest for space will go further when the people get out of the “game”.
I’m starting a column with the working name of Gimmick Aerospace Special Projects (or GASP). This program is not just for Space Flight and Exploration, but for others related to the love of Air, Space, Exploration, and the STEM skills that are foundational to it.
It is also a think tank and development program to devise and actually develop Rockets, Drones, UAV’s, High-altitude Balloons, the furtherance of sustainable technologies, etc, all with the purpose of exploration and making it easier for those who love these things (even ones without “the degree”) to explore Air and Space for themselves.
The difference between this and other programs? It will bring FUN and WONDER back to the Space Industry, and maybe BECOME the Industry’s new direction one day for that reason. And good news to people everywhere, it will have NO previous education requirement to do this. The motto mirrors one think tank company that I’ve heard of . . . “Fail often, so you might succeed/learn sooner!”
Thomas Edison tried 10,000 times to make the first lightbulb fail, and he did not consider the 9,999 times before failures. He said in essence, “I learned 9,999 ways NOT to make a light bulb”. This flies in the face of some entities that don’t consider it lucrative to have a single failure because “it costs too much”.
What happened to the days of the Tinker and the Experimental developer like Robert Goddard? Well with GASP, the effort is to reasonably bring it back.
IMPORTANT: Please note that there’s no intention for GASP to exclusively corner the market on this. GASP by itself is meant to be one effort and an example amongst a (hopefully increasing) sea of other common folks that will reach for the stars and explore the heavens too, and is meant to inspire and develop similar efforts.
Like any good program with the truest intentions, this will take time, but the purpose of the GASP article is to show the development of concept to completion of an Air and Space Program to not only accomplish these goals, but teach about the physics behind their operation. It also will show the public the science behind everything that’s done, so they either don’t need many years of schooling before they get the chance to work on this . . . or make their schooling easier (NOTE: Colleges/University STILL have an important place, and I’m grateful to them for my own Engineering experience). The more that the public knows how to do this, the more accessible this industry is to everyone. I look forward to this effort. And I plan to ask YOU the reader about ideas you’d like to see go into YOUR program. Stay tuned, as I promise you’ll enjoy this!
For the Great Galactic Space Gimmick, I’m Gimmick Commander Ben Faltinowski! 🙂
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