SFS News: Google Sponsors Lunar X PRIZE to Create a Space...

OMG, who cares who's idea it was. I certainly don't because it does not matter. It doesn't even matter who puts the prize up. The only thing that matter is who is going to win the prize and creates something from it, like Scaled and Virgin is doing right now.

I hope this spawns some good competition. I'd make a go at it but for funding, I'm confident I and some people I know could get something like this going in about 3-4 years.

Yeah i agree it is massively important why its there, who has done it or anything else/ What is important is people are talking about people going to the moon, people builfing spacecrafts and people competing against the government's attempts.

Interesting point though, if i made a page ans put 1000 ideas up then one day someone else offered one, then would i have any rights? surely not!

Im still excited to to start hearing anyone come out with ideas on how they are going to do this!

Is it massively different to get a buggy there to getting a person there? I guess the buggy doesnt come back!

Rob

Plus you don't need to feed the buggy, temperature regulate it or give it air to breathe (I'd expect all the rovers to weigh much less than people too).

You do need to heat it a bit, or atleast batteries if you're gonna use them. But yes, it's just a small fraction of what humans actually would need.

But it would be fun to see if a falcon 1 could get a 100 kg rover to the moon (off course with it's own kickstage). Then it would be really worthwhile for investors and participants.

I am not sure that anyone has designed a kickstage so small, it would be interesting to see if it could be done with a Falcon I. You might have to use an Ion engine like SMART1 did but you would need conventional rocketry to land on the surface. That doesnt leave a lot of payload for a rover.

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http://www.ghostnasa.com/posts/008moonprize.html

When I've published my Moonrovers Prize article I've opened many threads and posted comments on several space forums and blogs and I've (also) sent DOZENS emails to space websites, newspapers and big companies ...including Google!!!

In my archive I've found this mail sent to Google 20 MONTHS AGO in Dec. 5, 2005:



Of course, I've not only this image, but also the full email file.

No one of the six email address used to send this mail has given any "mail delivery error" or "not read" messages and two of them have sent a reply:





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Sigh, gaetanomarano what do you want from us or google, except spamming it over and over again?


Yeah i know, just a thought. Business-wise would it be very good, but indeed the technical feasibility is another thing.

evidences, not spamming... do you have read about the Ferrari vs. McLaren affair? ...the truth has been found thanks to some emails...

however, my (bad) experience could be useful for those who are going to reveal their ideas... NEVER DO THAT !!!

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Thats a bit short sighted . I wrote to NASA (when they were asking for ideas) and suggested they share the knwledge and data they had gained on the HL-20 with a company to see if a commercial concern would be willing to build it. About a year later they did just that with SpaceDev. I do not fool myself that I am the only one who may have had this idea and whats more even if my idea was stolen then I am happy that someone is doing something with the program. Space is not about who thought about something but who is actually doing it.

Personally I am more than willing to give ideas away to anyone who can use them.

NASA is a public agency that offers all its research, data, images and info to the scientific community FOR FREE since its purpose is NOT to earn profits.

Google is a PRIVATE company and its ONLY goal is to make as much profits as possible from EVERY new project.

Do you understand the difference?

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I know he does, and i do. But still, what is your point? You cannot patent an idea, that is absurd into the very extreme. Do you think you are or were the only one who had this idea? C'mon, you can't be serious. If you're so sure of yourself, go to court and ask for a large sum of money.

Btw, yes i have followed the Ferrari/McLaren spy-saga. That is way different then this.

but I can say everywhere that I'm the first to have this idea


in both case a mail helped to know the truth

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You can't proof that the idea wasn't in someones head al along.

Again, what is your point?

it always amazes me that so many threads about space with promising topics degenerate so quickly to be about something completely different.

back on topic: I think it unlikely that a team can accomplish this for less than the $20M prize being offered (there are additional amounts based on performance once they get to the luna surface). But someone might still have a go and spend extra cash for the publicity.

Would google feel that it had to enter a team itself if a rival company put together a team? Having an "Ask Jeeves" rover being publicised by Google would be very amusing.