Another Private Space Startup 147
An anonymous reader writes "Wired has a story about former PayPal owner Elon Musk who has his own rocket company, SpaceX, trying to lower the cost of getting into space. They just tested the rocket engine, and hope to fly a test by the end of the year. Not bad for less than a year's worth of work so far." We mentioned this guy last year.
Go Go GO!!!!! (Score:5, Insightful)
I heartily welcome and cheer for anybody willing to try. Build it and go, you crazy rich bastards!!
X Prize (Score:4, Insightful)
I mean the purse is 10 million. It seems to me you'd have spent that many times over to develop a rocket ship. So I doubt the winner recoups his investment, let alone makes any profit.
So I assume it's more about bragging rights? And if so, why not donate the 10 million to charity, and just give out a fancy trophy?
Re:John Carmack (Score:4, Insightful)
There's quite a bit going on with regard to private space. Just check out The X Prize [xprize.org] for information on Carmack, Rutan and others. The most recent story [scaled.com] about Rutan's work is attracting quite a bit of attention.
Personally, I think the next crewed orbital vehicle will be coming out of one of these startups, not out of NASA. Of course, NASA could get back into the picture if they decided to help independents rather than try to run the whole damned show.
This actually could work... (Score:3, Insightful)
Big thrust, low weight, "cheap" to manufacture, limited exposure to the "risky" science of re-entry (leave that to the folks worrying about the payload)...
These guys may be on to something.
What's that old saying? (Score:4, Insightful)
As long as they're only claiming that they can get stuff into space, I'm inclined to believe them. All you need for that is a powerful rocket and some good mathematicians. But when some random rich guy claims that he can bring stuff back safely when even NASA is having problems with that... that's when I stop buying it.
Oh look, another one (Score:2, Insightful)