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Rules Set for $50 Million America's Space Prize

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the didn't-have-enough-fun-with-the-x-preise dept.

An anonymous reader wrote in to say that The rules have been set for Robert Bigelow's $50 million 'America's Space Prize'. The gist of it is that the winner needs to get a crew of five people up 400km, complete two orbits of the Earth, and then do it again within 60 days. I've got a gremlin and a huge rubber band... now if I only had 4 friends!

3 of 548 comments (clear)

  1. To little? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It seems like spaceship one spent significantly more than 10 mil on their first ship. Is 50 mil a large enough reward for other participants?

  2. Technicality Smechnic..thingy by Clappingman · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The spacecraft must reach a minimum velocity sufficient to complete two (2) full orbits at altitude before returning to Earth; It doesn't say that it actually has to orbit twice though, just reach the velocity necessary to do so.

  3. Re:Better Idea by Harinezumi · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Wind power is not practical for large-scale power generation. Never was, never will be. We already have a clean, efficient, and safe source of power that would last us for centuries even if we we used it for all our power generation needs, and its name is nuclear.

    What we really need to do is offer a prize for someone to convince all the myopic NIMBY types to give the pebble bed reactors a try. And yes, if you want to build one in my backyard, go right ahead.