I intended to post this in agreement with some of the wisdom being shared by you on Monday until I noticed you had disclosed an overnight trade. Given it's come back a bit I should've probably just put it out because I know you respect both sides of the debate but appreciate general reception is never as warm on red days.
1. NASA does not endorse or sponsor any commercial product, service, or activity.
2. Use of the NASA name, initials, and NASA logo which would express or imply such endorsement is strictly prohibited. US Federal Law doesn't make any exceptions for disclaimer notes such as the one provided in a presentation released on 18/08/2016, so not really sure how Aurora's use of the logo insignia was granted approval through the Public Services Division at NASA HQ. Software for the SFP is open-source so
association through open source licensing agreement or 3D printing industry consortiums permit use of a logo, however these are usually specific designs in relation to group/consortium id.
3. NASA does not make unsolicited phone calls asking to buy unproven 3-D printing technologies as alluded to in the article highlighted in the first post on this thread. To believe otherwise would be ludicrous. We're talking about NASA, not some local hobby shop down the road. A considerably extensive evaluation and selection process is undertaken on the Company and key personnel including any bilateral participation involvement in order to pass the strict eligibility requirements before becoming a potential non-U.S. 'award' recipient of any US Federal funding. 4. NASA have formed a number of strategic alliances with numerous global leaders in the 3-D printing space, however other than gaining access to something such as new file formats for resolving current interoperability and functionality issues made freely available to anyone in this field, I can't see what A3D could offer a major player in this field like NASA?
I've seen a few posters on here throwing around a figure of about $1m for the 31 or 32 pre-orders, however it's important to note that 27 of those were pre-sold at an average discount price of $7,400 per unit to backers of the Kickstarter campaign. This is recognized as a liability of $199,967 on the Company's balance sheet, and it was this same crowd-funding initiative undertaken by the Company back in 2014 where a number of red flags first began to emerge;
Thomas Sanladerer's 3D Printing YouTube channel has 36,000 subscribers, and his thoughts in response to Aurora cancelling the crowd-funding campaign which netted the Company $200k were summed up in two words...
Importantly, A3D are currently negotiating a non-exclusive short-term license agreement with a third party owner of a 1997 patent for use of the SFP's Aurora were promoting on Kickstarter... not willing to reveal at this stage, indeed... not willing to reveal that Aurora may be infringing on the IP rights of a third party. - Failed!
Fingers crossed, Aeroquip Corp won't be seeking any considerable large up-fronts...
The Kickstarter Basics advise that, "The funding goal is the amount of money that a creator needs to complete their project." - Aurora's funding goal was $100,000 to complete this project with estimated time of delivery in May 2015 - Failed!
The basic Kickstarter Rules also advise that, "Our community is built on trust and communication. Projects can’t mislead people or misrepresent facts, and creators should be candid about what they plan to accomplish. When a project involves manufacturing and distributing something complex, like a gadget, we require projects to show backers a prototype of what they’re making, and we prohibit photorealistic renderings." - Failed!
The Kickstarter Terms of Use was updated on 18/10/2014 - 10 days after the Aurora campaign was cancelled. - Coincidence?
"I had originally planned to print a full rocket motor for the video and show it being fired up as the final scene for the KS video. Time however got away from us as the designing of rocket motors can take a while - however it is still my intention to do this before the end of the campaign."
I truly wish all A3D investors the very best of luck with this one, and while I have limited knowledge covering the field of additive manufacturing technologies, I do know something about the rigorous processes employed by large companies during partnering assessment phases, and decisions can often be heavily influenced by the information such as that published on this crowd-funding site which under Kickstarter's Company policy will always remain assessable to the public.
A3D Price at posting:
$1.01 Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held
(20min delay)