Well, I knew what the new prize was going to be this morning, but didn’t upstage them, out of courtesy.
Also, frankly, it’s sort of a yawner for me. I just can’t get as excited about it as I was supposed to be, based on all the pre-announcement hype.
I’m just not that into space science, or robots on other planets. I was hoping that it would be something that would further drive down the cost of space passenger travel. But hey, it’s Google’s money. Anyway, if it ups Elon’s launch rate, that’s all to the good.
[Update a few minutes later]
I knew this would happen. Per comments, look, I’m not saying that it’s a bad thing. I’m not even saying that it’s not a good or worthwhile thing. I’m sure that there will probably be some good outcomes from it.
I’m just saying that if I had thirty million dollars, and wanted to put it toward a prize (or prizes) of some kind, this isn’t what I would have done with the money. And that I just can’t work up the kind of enthusiasm about it that many no doubt will.
[Another update]
Alan Boyle has more.
[A couple minutes later]
Wow. Alan’s comments section has certainly attracted a bunch of loons. In fact, sadly, they outnumber the sane ones.
[Another update]
A question in comments:
Do you find the search for habitable extrasolar planets to be an exception to your general lack of interest in space science?
Short answer: no.
Why would I? Barring some kind of FTL breakthrough, I don’t find habitable extrasolar planets an urgent issue. I think that it will be a lot easier to build habitats in the solar system than to go to extrasolar planets, for a long time, if not forever.
But I’ll repeat something I’ve written before. I’m not uninterested in space science. I just don’t find it any more fascinating than other kinds, and I don’t think that it can justify the amount of money that’s spent on it, relative to other kinds. That’s why I always say that it’s a dangerous argument for proponents of NASA funding to do it on the basis of “science” or “exploration,” because when the people with the money compare how much we’re spending on NASA relative to (say) the NSF, they may find themselves out on a breaking budgetary limb.
[Update again]
Bill White makes a good comment in comments, that I hadn’t considered. This is good for the people doing the Lunar Landing Challenge (Armadillo, Masten, et al). That ticks my excitement meter up a notch or two.
But it’s still down in the mud.
And it raises an interesting question. If the LLC is won this year (or next) will NASA fund a follow-on (higher, longer, etc.)? Or will this prize be the successor, in which the competitors for the prize bid for the services of the lander companies?
[Friday morning update]
Clark Lindsey responds to some naysaying from Popular Mechanics.
I definitely agree that Burt is irrelevant to this. I find all this Burt worship amusing. As I’ve written before, Burt isn’t God, and in fact there are many people who understand this kind of problem better than he does (something I’m sure he’d admit himself). The notion that if Burt is too busy to do something, it won’t get done, is ludicrous.
The reason that Burt won the X-Prize isn’t because he’s a genius who came up with the only way to do it. Burt won the X-Prize because his reputation allowed him to raise the money. There were lots of ways to skin that cat, and people who knew how to do it, but little funding for them.
[Update a few minutes later]
Jeff Foust attended the announcement, and has pictures.