A flair of entrepreneurial spirit rocked the aerospace industry May 17 when the five-member Web start-up company Dreamtime Holdings Inc. snagged a NASA contract to commercialize the agency’s 85-year-old film and photograph archives on the Internet.
Beating out 13 other bidders, the company will sell medium- and high-resolution imagery to consumers.
Under the terms of the contract, Dreamtime must set up a new public Web site within six months; establish a multimedia database with public access to NASA archives within 18 months; broadcast a documentary within 18 months, then follow with a rate of a minimum of two documentaries per year; and acquire, edit and distribute HDTV at each NASA Center within 24 months of the effective date.
This contract, however, does not give Dreamtime exclusivity to the public archives, only rights of first refusal to the content. “NASA is still in the position to put information out to the public domain and someone else can come in and sell our images as well,” Brian Welch, director of NASA media services told SPACE BUSINESS NEWS. “If, however, another company offers conflicts with Dreamtime’s ability to deliver under the Commercial Space Act agreement then we would have to say no.” Welch added that NASA will be happy to consider other requests but the agency plans on completing this project in good faith.
