I would take it a step further. I used to work at NASA, and I never even thought about a patent. Not sure if we could have even gotten them, but the idea couldn&#x27;t have been further from my mind.<p>To me, and what I would guess were most of the engineers around me, the whole point was space exploration. Full stop. Not climate studies, not &quot;science for science&#x27;s sake&quot;, but engineering (not science) to get us into space.<p>Maybe there is a role for a government organization dedicated to researching quasi-commerical science and engineering, but I would hate for NASA to become that agency. I want NASA focused on putting men in space.