BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | X-Prize 'will be won this year'
The X-prize - a prize for non-public firms to get a three-person craft into orbit (well its got more rules than that but have a look) is close to being won. The prediction is that this will be won later this year by one of three competing teams and good luck to them!
One of my regrets in life is not being able to visit space. I would be scared witless mind you but being able to view the world from space is one of my ambitions. This prize could ultimately lead to that kind of experience for a wider audience than currently allowed by ntaional and international space programmes. Perhaps more importantly, this prize injects an element of competition and urgency into developing alternative means of reaching space and maybe will see more done in terms of exploration for the future.
While I agree that scientific research isn't everything, commercial reseaarch my open up new possiblities that until ytet haven't been considered because fo governemental constraints - Britain's biggest being it abandoned its space programme years ago and now contributes less to space research than Italy.
Given the recent conflicts on Earth, you may well ask why I think efforts should be placed here? Well, I believe we will only develop beyond our current state if we do seek to transcend barriers, physical, scientific, religious, social or whatever. One may to do this (though by no means the only) is to establish a common goal, an element of competition though not exclusivity and the vista of unimagined possibilites. Slightly into the realms of dreams and utopia but its what I believe.