Only one month, hardly of any value when it comes to the real thing on mars for that will be 2 yrs.
"During that time they will attempt to conduct a sustained program of field research in geology, palaeontology"

What ever happened to green house plant growth, oxygen generation from plant or chemical reactions, learning how to construct, expand the habitat living and working area ect..

Zach : on the prise note from the spacepolitics site:
The federally funded inducement prize is a good compromise between government and private industry. The government does what it does best--raise capital--and private industry does what it does best--compete.

Posted by Centennial Challenges at May 26, 2004 09:31 PM
I would agree with that statement. The Centennial Challenge is a major step forward, and I hope it remains a long-running program open to new ideas. It represents the essence of innovation, inspiration, and freedom, ideals NASA should follow whole-heartedly.

Posted by Phil Smith at May 27, 2004 03:37 PM
Good for private enterprise but Nasa will still need to deal with the not invented here mentality for it to have a lasting effect on the space programs and of exploration.

Posted by Harold LaValley at May 27, 2004 04:03 PM
Yes, I have personal experience with the "not invented here" and a number of other maladaptive mentalities at NASA. In March I had the misfortune of encountering most of them together in a single code T representative.

The remarks of this particular individual were so inflammatory and sensitive that I dare not give an account publicly until I've consulted a lawyer.

Suffice it to say I failed to secure NASA funding for the Microwave Thermal Rocket, the Microwave Thermal Thruster, and a new of very simple approach to on-orbit assembly using nylon - a concept I hope to write more about in the summer, if I can find funding to keep me going.

The latter concept the representative didn't even want to hear about. So, this diabolical individual I regard as my canary: I will know NASA reforms are for real when this person no longer has a job, or is put in a role where he can no longer strangle innovation.

Posted by Kevin Parkin at May 27, 2004 07:23 PM
I would love to here more about these items though I have nothing to do with Nasa they sound very interesting "Microwave Thermal Rocket, the Microwave Thermal Thruster, and a new of very simple approach to on-orbit assembly using nylon."

I am assuming the microwave thermal thuster is some what like a ION drive engine but with less over head/ wieght.

Posted by Harold LaValley at May 27, 2004 08:22 PM
Harold,

The aforementioned propulsion system is more akin to a nuclear thermal rocket in the way it works. I was considering writing a more widely accessible article in the summer, but in the meantime the papers are here:

http://monolith.caltech.edu/html/Publications.html

As I alluded to earlier, securing funding is my #1 priority. At the moment I don't own enough of my own time to do research or write papers and articles on rockets, propulsion, or on-orbit assembly. This is the state of university funding in space research today.

Posted by Kevin Parkin at May 28, 2004 04:07 AM

And speaking of funding or of paying bills something we have not done a very good job of since the shuttle has been grounded.

straight from the Nasawatch site:

27 May 2004: Russians to submit bill for spacewalk, MSNBC

"The "acceptable" payment would be 500 hours of crew work time - that is, time during which one country's crew member performs tasks for the other country's programs. This would involve no cash transfer, and in fact NASA is forbidden by law to pay Russia for any space-related services. But the value of the time request could amount to as much as $10 million, by one expert's informal measure."

Editor's note: Gee, the Russians sure learned all the tricks of capitalism from us really fast, didn't they? Wait until your business partner is stuck over a barrel - in a bad way - and then stick it to him. What is really annoying about this is the fact that throughout the 90s America subsidized the Russian space program either through more than a billion dollars in cash and several billion in shuttle flights to maintain and repair Mir - and a Shuttle joy ride for Valery Ryumin as well. Given this latest stick up, one certainly has to reconsider whether it is wise to deliberately rely upon them to fly Americans on Soyuz spacecraft after 2010 while we retire the shuttle and bring the CEV online.

I'm glad to see Russia being smart about their space program. They are very strapped for cash and are taking advantage of NASA's need to compromise.