N
najab
Guest
Here's a crazy idea for the next space prize. Build a small satellite, nothing mroe than a ball covered in solar panels with a radio transmitter in it, attach a solid rocket to the bottom of it. Find a commercial launch that has a a few hundred spare pounds of payload capacity and get them to launch the satellite as a secondary payload. Use the solid motor to boost into a high eliptical orbit. <p>Here's the interesting part: inside the satellite is a cheque for $1 billion, payable to "Cash". Get the cheque, get the cash. The eliptical nature of the orbit is a natural time limit as long as you make sure the orbit is stable for at least 5 years.<p>To win the prize you're either going to have to develop a manouverable manned space vehicle, or autonomous rendezvous and return capabilities - either of which is worth a billion or two.<hr />Forgot to mention that the satellite would be designed so that it's hard to open (a Chinese puzzle box kinda thing), which means you either have to have dextrous manipulators - either robotic or human - to open it on orbit, or you have to be able to return it intact.</p></p>