petition was presented to the court. This petition requested that the venture be incorporated, given custom waivers for six voyages and to be allowed to export bullion and to mint “. . . so much foreign coin as shall supply the want out of such bullion or plate as shall be brought in by the adventurers or by their means” (2). The response from the court was favorable, but the venture was delayed for a year to await the negotiation of a peace treaty between England and Spain. Elizabeth gave to the Duke of Cumberland and some 215 merchants a charter of incorporation on December 31, 1600. This charter was carefully framed and addressed concerns raised over the proposed voyage, some of which have their parallels today. The charter gave the company a monopoly of trade, while carefully prescribing the organization of the company. It also set yearly limits of “. . . six good ships and six good pinnacles . . . and 500 mariners Englishmen to guide and sail same . . (3), unless the royal navy set out. The military concerns about access to precious ships are surprisingly familiar. The merchants received less than the requested aid from the Crown, which was in the form of customs exemptions (such as four free voyages instead of six). And in particular the company was charged that it return all the bullion to England that was shipped out, except for the first voyage which was exempt. This second major concern, the supply of bullion, was grounded in the mercantilist economic view which equated wealth with gold and silver. Some people argued that Europe was “pouring out its treasure" to the east. What the mercantilists could not see is that wealth is not a semistatic thing which depends on gold and silver for coin to represent it. They could not see that the Indies trade would enrich England, not impoverish it through lack of gold. This is somewhat reminiscent of arguments that NASA's budget would be better spent here on Earth instead of in space. To begin with, NASA money is spent on Earth, and that money has historically multiplied itself through new products and increased productivity. Money spent on a space station has even greater wealth and job creating potential due to the involvement of private enterprise. The first voyage set out under Captain Lancaster who established a post at Bantam. Thus the two essentials for trade, a place to go and the means to get there, were established. The other essential, profit, was present also. The first voyage brought back 1,030,000 lbs. of pepper and the first two voyages made 95% profit on the capital (4). With an operational shuttle and space station we follow in those same steps. The profit is there to be made also. Electrophoresis can be used to separate very valuable materials while new alloys and large crystals for semiconductors, impossible to make on Earth, can be produced. Thus, like the spices of old, there are rare substances to be acquired which can yield a profit. The first twelve voyages were “separate voyages” in that the merchants individually put up a share of the capital. After these early voyages the company was restructured as a joint stock company. Similarly we would expect early space industrial ventures to be single or joint corporate operations and that later on down the line the specifically space industrial corporation(s) will arise. We should take care to learn some lessons about the extent of corporate sovereignty from the experience with the East India Company, especially in the establishment and management of political communities arising out of industrial and commercial communities. Space is already commercialized with $100 million communications satellites in orbit, yet this commercialization is tied up only in information transfer. It is the manufacture of new products in space which is the qualitative leap which will lead to further industrialization and eventual colonization. Just as the carvel opened up the
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