#1 ...No, what it comes down to is this: if the program runs smoothly and comes in under budget, no one makes any money.
True story: when my dad worked for NASA in the early 90s, he was part of a team tasked to develop a Mach 3+ air intake for an experimental craft. Doing a little research, Dad discovered that a lot of the work (and therefore much time saved) had already been done by North American Aircraft and NASA as part of the XB-70 Valkyrie program. Dad brought this presumably joyous news to his superiors, whereupon he was told to sit down, shut up, and forget he'd ever seen the stuff. Nobody makes any money if they build upon existing research - better we do it again.
Mike |