Groups are great, fun to interact with
kindred spirits and chat up the potential
for the future in space...but, you wanna
get a clue as to how all this stuff will
dissolve into spacetime ultimately I invite
one and all to enquire of RT and the
folks at Space Frontier as to what exactly
they had in mind when they
permitted the CATS Prize to suddenly
expire...it was sufficient ca$h for someone
with a really jazzy concept and brandnew
mindset to conceivably win, but, clearly SFF
did'nt have the essential sticktoittivism required to even float their
prize let alone
their dreams of conquering spacetime...
better by far for those interested in seeing
space ACTUALLY being done, which will
require entirely new and different approaches, and thus, new people, for
RT and the foundation to have dissolved
themselves and left the cash on the table
to encourage those who might give it
a shot....maybe Dennis Tito will revive
the prize, or Dr. Dyson might get Esther
to fund such a prize for smaller effort apt
to tempt a new entrepreneurial effort.
( X Prize demands warmbody-boost and
rewards same with a prize which is
unrealisticly small and probably is not
even NOW fully-funded )....Ciao

One should distinguish between slow progress and no progress. The
failure of one group on one project hardly proves an idea is fatally flawed.
St. Augustine, FL, the first successful European city in what is now the USA
was founded in 1564, some 72 years after Columbus' first voyage (step in the
New World). I think it would be prudent to wait at least that long after
Armstrong's first step on the Moon (until 2041) before claiming that efforts
to colonize the Moon have failed. And now we have an International Space
Station. I think it is reasonable to expect that there will never again be
a time when all humans are on Earth. We are making progress in space.
Sincerely, Jay S. Huebner at jhuebn@...