Space Frontier Foundation

The Space Frontier Foundation ( SFF ) is a small but influential organization that promotes the increased participation of the private sector in space research and development.

The organization

The SFF was founded in 1988 by Space activists, who were of the opinion that it is technically possible to realize their shared dreams of a large-scale colonization of the solar system. They knew, however, that this was not possible as long as space exploration is in the hands of the managed by the U.S. government space program.

In recent years, the Space Frontier Foundation supporters of various private -scale efforts to conquer the space sector, eg the Ansari X-Prize, the SpaceShipOne project and founded by entrepreneur Robert Bigelow Bigelow Aerospace, which has the goal of a private space station to establish in space.

The organization spoke out against the space program of the U.S. government from oftmal critical, especially in terms of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA. The SFF has, for example, criticized the launched by the NASA Space Shuttle, claiming that the private space sector is better placed to take on the work of the shuttles. Nevertheless, the SFF has supported several recent NASA projects such as the Centennial Challenges prize for tender to encourage especially the innovation in the private sector.

Additional projects of the organization include " The Watch " an asteroid and comet detection and research project and "Permission to Dream ," a project that connects students around the world through the wonders of space and astronomy.

Possibly the most famous face of the Space Frontier Foundation co-founder Rick Tumlinson, who was asked by the U.S. Congress since 1995, six times to testify on space- related topics. Tumlinson was recently found in the Space News magazine in the list of 100 most influential people of the space industry.