Space X PRIZEs Roundup - August 25, 2008

Here's a Lunar Lander Challenge conference idea from Team Phoenicia.

RLV News gets an LLC update from a different team, Unreasonable Rocket: Static Test Today (a pretty good sounding post) and More Random Thoughts.

Google Earth Blog posts on the XPF GLXP KML files, as well as a number of other interesting Google Earth updates. I'm not sure if they noticed the LLC KML file.

NASA JSC Next 50 Years Speaker Series: Peter Diamandis - American Astronautical Society Note: the lecture is today, and is for "JSC-badged personnel" only.

The Launch Pad has several updates. One is a roundup (can you link to a roundup in a roundup post?).

Another is a question on Who Owns the Moon?. That post says The Outer Space Treaty decrees that the moon and other celestial bodies are the property of all mankind, but that doesn't allow for anything useful to happen. My understanding of the OST is different; I think you are allowed to do useful things on the Moon and other bodies. You're also allowed to own useful things you do on the Moon. For example, if you mine part of the Moon, the product is yours, and you can keep it, or sell it ... you don't have to share it with "all mankind". That's not to say the OST couldn't be improved in the area of property rights, but you can already do business there.

The last Launch Pad post covers the DC-X Reunion, including some discussions related to prizes. I have to say that if NASA Administrator Griffin likes prizes, he should make a much bigger point of talking up Centennial Challenges in Congressional hearings, lectures (and not just to the DC-X type of audience), documents, and so on.