> <i><font color="yellow">It's better than nothing. If Bush had not given NASA a new plan we would still be in LEO by 2020.</font>/i><br /><br />I was thinking about this effort which is essentially sole-sourced to NASA, how groups like the Planetary Society and Zubrin have developed their own plans recently or in the past, and the X Prize approach and thought maybe the blueprint could be done as a prize.<br /><br />Over the next 6-9 months hold a contest. Groups submit their plans, but to limit it somewhat to serious efforts each submission has to be accompanied by an entry fee (maybe $2,000-$10,000). Furthermore each submission must have an abstract (200 words), 1-2 page executive summary, and a technical plan less than 50 pages.<br /><br />Each of the submissions are available online. An online discussion board (like SDC) and voting system is provided, but this Internet popularity vote only carries a limited weight. A group of judges select the top 5 proposals, and those groups are each given $1 million to flesh out the details for a second round of reports.<br /><br />The second round of reports goes through a similar voting scheme, with the winner receiving a $10 million dollar reward. The winning plan then becomes the blueprint for "the vision".<br /><br />I could envision groups from the Mars Society to Boeing to Rutan to engineering societies at Universities across the country participating.<br /><br />Any thoughts?</i>