Thursday, February 07, 2008
Change In Centennial Challenges Management
RLV News has an important message from Ken Davidian and a change in his role in NASA's IPP that affects Centennial Challenges. Just to present another blog in case you're interested, I'll also note that Space Ventures has posted part of this message. Space Ventures is "the official blog of Space Angels Network".
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Will Pomerantz on V-Prize Workshop
A few days ago I posted on the V-Prize Foundation and CSIS workshop on the suborbital point-to-point V-Prize in development. The X PRIZE Foundation's Will Pomerantz has a detailed post on the meeting, as well as on innovation prize design in general. It's interesting to compare the real-world prize management perspective of people like Will to what you read about in books.
Early February Automotive X PRIZE Roundup
The X PRIZE Foundation announces that Congress has passed a resolution applauding them for the Automotive X PRIZE. Now, how do we translate that good will into federal funding for X PRIZE style innovation prizes?
The Automotive X PRIZE blog has a new post on computing miles per gallon equivalent for electric hybrids. The comments note how important it is to improve the efficiency of the least-efficient vehicles compared to improving the efficiency of the most efficient vehicles. The Automotive X PRIZE itself recognized that point right from the beginning when they described why the prize picked 100 MPGe instead of something much higher. This point makes you wonder - should someone do an "Automotive X PRIZE" for 18-wheelers?
The Foundation also links to an article in the Wisconsin Radio Network about a local competitor in the AXP competition with a car called IngoCar.
The X PRIZE Cars blog, a great place to go for AXP information, continues with a very thorough news roundup and a post that features Valentin Technologies Ingo, the Wisconsin team I just mentioned. Here's their site.
Update (February 9): The X PRIZE Cars blog has a lot more already, even though this post isn't very old. There's a thought-provoking analysis of why the big automakers should, or shouldn't, compete in the AXP, news on Malcolm Bricklin's plan to set up dealer and parts infrastructure for plug-in hybrids, a new page on the Zap Alias, and a post on the press release about Congress applauding the Automotive X PRIZE with an interesting tidbit of information on AXP plans.
The Automotive X PRIZE blog has a new post on computing miles per gallon equivalent for electric hybrids. The comments note how important it is to improve the efficiency of the least-efficient vehicles compared to improving the efficiency of the most efficient vehicles. The Automotive X PRIZE itself recognized that point right from the beginning when they described why the prize picked 100 MPGe instead of something much higher. This point makes you wonder - should someone do an "Automotive X PRIZE" for 18-wheelers?
The Foundation also links to an article in the Wisconsin Radio Network about a local competitor in the AXP competition with a car called IngoCar.
The X PRIZE Cars blog, a great place to go for AXP information, continues with a very thorough news roundup and a post that features Valentin Technologies Ingo, the Wisconsin team I just mentioned. Here's their site.
Update (February 9): The X PRIZE Cars blog has a lot more already, even though this post isn't very old. There's a thought-provoking analysis of why the big automakers should, or shouldn't, compete in the AXP, news on Malcolm Bricklin's plan to set up dealer and parts infrastructure for plug-in hybrids, a new page on the Zap Alias, and a post on the press release about Congress applauding the Automotive X PRIZE with an interesting tidbit of information on AXP plans.
Quick Unreasonable Rocket Update
Unreasonable Rocket has been busy with a lot of projects, weather issues, and Lunar Lander development, but they find time for a quick update.
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Centennial Challenges in the 2009 Budget Proposal
From the Administration's 2009 budget document that was released yesterday, for Future Centennial Challenges (2007 and 2008 are shown for perspective):
FY 2007 - 0.0
FY 2008 - 0.0
FY 2009 - 4.0
FY 2010 - 4.0
FY 2011 - 4.0
FY 2012 - 4.0
FY 2013 - 4.0
Those figures are in millions - somewhat less than 1/4000th of NASA's total budget in future years (but even that's a lot more than Congress has actually been appropriating - $0.00 - in recent years...).
"Future Centennial Challenges
The Centennial Challenges program conducts prize competitions for revolutionary, breakthrough accomplishments that advance the Vision for Space Exploration and other NASA priorities. Some of NASA's most difficult technical challenges require novel solutions from non-traditional sources of innovations. By making awards based on actual achievements, instead of proposals, NASA is tapping innovators in academia, industry, and the public. This effort is modeled on successful past prize competitions, including an 18th century navigation prize, early 20th century aviation prizes, and more recent prizes offered by the U.S. government and private sector.
In 2007, a prize of $200,000 was awarded to an individual inventor in the Astronaut Glove Challenge for a new glove design that exceeded the performance of spacesuit gloves currently used by NASA. In the Personal Air Vehicle Challenge, seven prizes totaling $250,000 were awarded to three different competitors for demonstrating significant improvements in efficiency, noise reduction and other factors important to future aviation technology. In other challenges, such as the Lunar Lander, teams have demonstrated impressive technical capabilities and have come very close to meeting the demanding criteria for success. Overall, the amount of team diversity (representing small and large businesses, high school and university students, and enthusiastic hobbyists and garage mechanics) and the variety of technologies implemented exceeded Agency expectations.
As the prize purses increase, the amount of participation and level of technical maturity and ingenuity will also increase. In the past competitions where the prize purses were on the order of $300,000 each, it is estimated that the 10-15 participating teams represented an investment of $50,000 - $100,000 each. In the competition with a $2 million prize purse, teams invested on the order of $250,000 - $500,000 each.
Centennial Challenges is continually working with each of the NASA Mission Directorates to ensure that competitions selected are addressing the current set of NASA's technology priorities."
FY 2007 - 0.0
FY 2008 - 0.0
FY 2009 - 4.0
FY 2010 - 4.0
FY 2011 - 4.0
FY 2012 - 4.0
FY 2013 - 4.0
Those figures are in millions - somewhat less than 1/4000th of NASA's total budget in future years (but even that's a lot more than Congress has actually been appropriating - $0.00 - in recent years...).
"Future Centennial Challenges
The Centennial Challenges program conducts prize competitions for revolutionary, breakthrough accomplishments that advance the Vision for Space Exploration and other NASA priorities. Some of NASA's most difficult technical challenges require novel solutions from non-traditional sources of innovations. By making awards based on actual achievements, instead of proposals, NASA is tapping innovators in academia, industry, and the public. This effort is modeled on successful past prize competitions, including an 18th century navigation prize, early 20th century aviation prizes, and more recent prizes offered by the U.S. government and private sector.
In 2007, a prize of $200,000 was awarded to an individual inventor in the Astronaut Glove Challenge for a new glove design that exceeded the performance of spacesuit gloves currently used by NASA. In the Personal Air Vehicle Challenge, seven prizes totaling $250,000 were awarded to three different competitors for demonstrating significant improvements in efficiency, noise reduction and other factors important to future aviation technology. In other challenges, such as the Lunar Lander, teams have demonstrated impressive technical capabilities and have come very close to meeting the demanding criteria for success. Overall, the amount of team diversity (representing small and large businesses, high school and university students, and enthusiastic hobbyists and garage mechanics) and the variety of technologies implemented exceeded Agency expectations.
As the prize purses increase, the amount of participation and level of technical maturity and ingenuity will also increase. In the past competitions where the prize purses were on the order of $300,000 each, it is estimated that the 10-15 participating teams represented an investment of $50,000 - $100,000 each. In the competition with a $2 million prize purse, teams invested on the order of $250,000 - $500,000 each.
Centennial Challenges is continually working with each of the NASA Mission Directorates to ensure that competitions selected are addressing the current set of NASA's technology priorities."
Tony Spear and Astrobotic
The South Mississippi newspaper SunHerald.com has a press release about a prominent Mars Pathfinder team member, Tony Spear, joining a prominent Google Lunar X PRIZE team - Astrobotic. The Astrobotic mission is called "Tranquility Trek", a name I haven't heard before.
Sunday, February 03, 2008
See the 2009 Space Settlement Art Contest Winners
The National Space Society announces the winners of the 2009 Space Settlement Art Calendar contest. Check out the link to see the pictures. Also, if you check out the gallery you can see all of the winners, and you can get a larger view of the images you select.
Don't forget to order the 2009 calendar:
The calendars are scheduled to be published and available for retail purchase by the end of May 2008. Further details will be posted on www.nss.org.
Don't forget to order the 2009 calendar:
The calendars are scheduled to be published and available for retail purchase by the end of May 2008. Further details will be posted on www.nss.org.
University Rover Challenge Team Information
This is a bit late, but the Mars Society recently put out an announcement that the Indication of Participation Deadline is approaching. I'm posting this after the deadline date of Feb 1 2008. More teams have signed up this year:
2008 URC Teams (listed as Indications of Participation are received)
Brigham Young University
York University (Canada)
University of Nevada, Reno
University of California, Los Angeles
Georgia Institute of Technology
Warsaw University of Technology (Poland)
Pennsylvania State University
Oregon State University
Iowa State University of Science and Technology
Here's an November 2007 article from Nevada News from University of Nevada, Reno, about last year's winning team looking for new members.
2008 URC Teams (listed as Indications of Participation are received)
Brigham Young University
York University (Canada)
University of Nevada, Reno
University of California, Los Angeles
Georgia Institute of Technology
Warsaw University of Technology (Poland)
Pennsylvania State University
Oregon State University
Iowa State University of Science and Technology
Here's an November 2007 article from Nevada News from University of Nevada, Reno, about last year's winning team looking for new members.
NASA Means Business Team NASAdvances to Finals
The Waltham, MA Daily News Tribune writes about the Bentley College NASA Means Business Team, NASAdvances. It's one of the four finalists.
Punkworks Test
Here's a video that's supposed to show some beam power work by Punkworks. The text:
Punkworks microwave wireless power transmission (WPT) beam testing in 2008 in preparation for the Space Elevator Games. The motor is being powered by the microwave beam.
Punkworks microwave wireless power transmission (WPT) beam testing in 2008 in preparation for the Space Elevator Games. The motor is being powered by the microwave beam.
Friday, February 01, 2008
V-Prize Workshop at CSIS
This collection of RLV News Briefs includes several interesting topics, and I'm only going to post about the prize-related one, so check out the whole thing.
Jack Kennedy continues to promote the potential of Virginia, and in particular MARS (Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport). The latest Spaceports post is on a workshop between the V-Prize Foundation and the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Check out the link to the V-Prize Foundation; it gives a good impression on the goals of the workshop.
Jack Kennedy continues to promote the potential of Virginia, and in particular MARS (Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport). The latest Spaceports post is on a workshop between the V-Prize Foundation and the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Check out the link to the V-Prize Foundation; it gives a good impression on the goals of the workshop.
Odyssey Moon Contractor, Partners, and Customers
RLV News points to the latest Lunar X PRIZE post from Odyssey Moon. This one is by Loretta Whitesides. It sounds like they're overwhelmed with interest from the public on their GLXP activities. Here's an interesting part:
Meanwhile we have been busy with our own meetings with our prime contractor, other possible partners and even customers this month and have been enjoying the rush of doing something that has never been done before.
Of course this makes you wonder what additional partners they might be working with, and what customers they might get!
Meanwhile we have been busy with our own meetings with our prime contractor, other possible partners and even customers this month and have been enjoying the rush of doing something that has never been done before.
Of course this makes you wonder what additional partners they might be working with, and what customers they might get!
2008 EuroSpaceward Elevator Plans
The Space Elevator Blog posts on various activities of EuroSpaceward.
Pomerantz Report on Government Nanotech Prizes
William Pomerantz reports on a panel he was on concerning nonotechnology and government prizes. Here's more about the panel at Nanowerk. Will's talk compared government prize like the NASA Centennial Challenges and DARPA's Challenges. The problem with getting any funding at all to keep making progress with Centennial Challenges is mentioned.
One bill that's discussed in the post is the Reward Innovation in America Act sponsored by Senator Mark Pryor.
One bill that's discussed in the post is the Reward Innovation in America Act sponsored by Senator Mark Pryor.
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