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Chase Million @millionconcepts.com · 04/09/2026

1000xYes. There has been a meme in and around NASA for >10 years that "commercial" is a magic word that solves every problem. I've heard it described as "commercial fairy dust." There is a further meme that "requirements" are what make space hard and expensive. (We can call that "magical thinking.")

3] I am about as pro-commercial space as it gets, for what I hope are obvious reasons. But to be clear, you cannot simply slap the word “commercial” on every problem or opportunity, pound the table about “deleting NASA’s burdensome requirements,” and assume it automatically produces a more affordable, better solution supported by a thriving market. When people talk about relying on private capital and commercial

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Chase Million @millionconcepts.com · 04/09/2026

Correct! For most of the coolest things that NASA does, what Jared calls "the near impossible," NASA is asking for something that has never been done and is the only current or foreseeable customer. That is going to be expensive for two separate reasons, always.

thriving market. When people talk about relying on private capital and commercial services, someone still has to pay, a service provider has to execute really well, and if NASA is the customer, it is likely a service that has rarely been done before. If it turns out NASA is ultimately the only meaningful customer, that has the potential to become a very expensive proposition, if it works at all.

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Chase Million @millionconcepts.com · 04/09/2026

It's refreshing to hear this. Industry insiders keep asserting that everything is moving to firm-fixed. That would be (and has been!) a terrible mistake. Different contracting approaches have different tradeoffs, and make sense in different circumstances. Pick what makes sense for the job!

speculative. NASA, the taxpayers and the interested public should care about whatever achieves the intended mission outcome as quickly, affordably and safely as possible, and the contracting method is secondary. We can screw up cost-plus, fixed-price and as-a-service contracts just as easily. The outcomes are what matter. If, along the way,

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