Pomerantz on Lessons Learned and a New SEDS Contest

William Pomerantz at the X PRIZE Foundation posts on an article he wrote for NASA's ASK Magazine on lessons learned from the entrepreneurs going for the Foundations' prizes. I'm not sure if NASA will be able to take advantage of these lessons learned, since it's if anything tending to go for even fewer, bigger missions, like the Ares rockets and associated NASA lunar transportation systems, very large Mars robotic missions, etc. Lessons like "Build, Test, Fly, Destroy, Repeat", "(Small) Size Matters", and the others are tough to fit into these kinds of programs. Good luck to NASA on finding and fostering some niches where these lessons can be applied while at the same time tackling the big programs.

Will also posts about a new SEDS Lunar Rover Design Competition. The first round will be held at the UK Space Conference 2008, which, if you check my earlier post at that link you'll see has a lot of other interesting prizes, competitions, and awards.