X Prize and John Carmack

Anonymous Coward writes "ABC News is running a story ostensibly about the X Prize but in reality they only talk about John Carmack and his teams efforts to win the prize (or at least compete). Quote: 'Some people have commented that I am trying very hard to make aerospace like software, and that's the truth," he says. "If we looked at what we do in software, if we could only compile and test our program once a year, we'd never get anything done. But that's the mode of aerospace.' "

Comments

I can empathize.

[grub]

"Effectively, I stopped buying Ferraris and turbo-charging them and started building rocket ships," Carmack says.

Yeah, I hate it when I have to put off buying Ferraris.

Making aerospace like software...

[fmaxwell]

Some people have commented that I am trying very hard to make aerospace like software, and that's the truth

Gives a whole new meaning to "blue screen of death", doesn't it?

Can you licence Ship Design?

[Ducati_749S]

If he wins, I wonder if the ships' lifecycle will resemble those of his games?
I can see it allready:
1) Carmack devises a ship that excells in performance, but requires very costly componenets in order to deliver on its full functionality.
2) After a years' worth of excellent operational records, other countries license the engine design and build their own ships off of it
3) 2 years after launch a thriving Spaceship MOD community is launching new ships into space every couple of months....