Michael Giberson
From Technology News:
The second private space flight in a week piloted by history’s second civilian astronaut was worth US$10 million today as the Paul Allen-funded SpaceShipOne (SS1) touched the edge of space and returned to Earth winner of the Ansari X Prize.
In addition to its historical significance with respect to private space travel, the event fixes another data point in the competition between prizes and other ways to motivate innovation.
I for one am glad to see us move into private space travel. Although I have my concrens about the future, I do believe we need to set forth the conditions of adding to our childrens future the ability to explore and live in space.
From space farming of products to mining the elements of our solar system, private space adventures will lead the nations of this world to come to terms with the littleness of the problems we face as a civilization.
A little economics and organizational behavior allowed me to predict in June that a profit-maximizer would soon be offering a spaceflight service for under $500,000, and also to explain why government agencies have priced this service so highly.
See my post entitled “Richard Branson – Profit Maximizer” at voluntaryXchange.
From space farming of products to mining the elements of our solar system, private space adventures will lead the nations of this world to come to terms with the littleness of the problems we face as a civilization.