Commercialized Space

So you've probably heard that NASA isn't really sending people into space anymore, let alone visiting the moon. The reasons for this (and its potential societal impact) is a topic for another post, but the point is the responsibility of space exploration, and scientific innovation in general, is shifting from the government to the private sector. Honestly, considering the fact that almost all life-altering innovations in the past 200 years were direct results of commercial endeavors (steel, railroads, assembly lines, computers), I think this is the best direction possible for space exploration.

The problem: There is no demand/financial incentives for space exploration.
The solution: Let rich people with vision create demand.

Yes, that's Buzz Aldrin. And yes, Google is involved.

A couple of years ago, the X PRIZE foundation announced that they would award $30 million in prizes to "the first privately funded teams to safely land a robot on the surface of the Moon." The contest requires the robot, once on the lunar surface, to cover a distance of at least 500 meters and transmit images and data (perhaps even hi-def video) back to earth. Yesterday, they announced the official roster of teams registered for the attempt. There are 29 of them. (here is a better article about it)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Earth has seen footage from the moon since the Apollo missions. To put things frankly; this is awesome. Now this is no summer science project. It will probably be a few years before we get to drool over video streaming from our celestial neighbor, but this isn't a long shot either. The competitors have already been working for a couple years, and I wouldn't be surprised if we see a success within in the next 4 years.


The commercialization of space is a great thing. This nation was built by capitalistic visionaries and I think mankind's future in space rests in similar hands. I was talking with my roommate Mike yesterday about this and he said "You know, it's entirely possible that, if I'm rich enough, within the next 40 years I'll have the opportunity to experience space flight!" and I said "It's entirely possible that within our lifetime, experiencing space flight will be as common as flying in a plane". It's a cool thought. I've always wanted to go into space. All of those prize seeking visionaries have my blessing (not that it's worth anything).


Do you think the commercialization of space will work? If you had enough money to run an X PRIZE contest, what would it be? How much would you be willing to pay to experience space flight? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Just don't let this happen... this is actually kind of disturbing.