"TANSTAAFL" forms the basic philosophical underpinnings of Heron Aerospace.

The TANSTAAFL acronym ("There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch") comes from Robert Heinlein's classic SF novel "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress". In Heinlein's novel, citizens of the moon expected to pay for what they received, even the air they breathed. These hearty, self-reliant people in Heinlein's story cast off their repressive masters on Earth and established a free society. This book is beloved by libertarians. The point of the phrase is that people must be responsible for their own welfare, not the state. Heinlein's literature abounds with comments and situations in which a lack of self-reliance has a degrading effect on the human condition. This is where the "no free lunch" comes into play.

Outside SF-circles the variant TINSTAAFL ("There Is No Such Thing...") is apparently more common, and can be traced back to the 1952 writings of ethicist Alvin Hansen. TANSTAAFL may well have arisen from it by mutation. The phrase "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch" is also attributed to the Economics Nobel Laureate, Milton Friedman, as a one-sentence summary of economics he used from time to time.