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The Google Lunar X Prize’s Race to the Moon Is Over. Nobody Won

nytimes.com

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Re: The Google Lunar X Prize’s Race to the Moon Is Over. Nobody Won

#11

Post by sigstoat »

CapitalistCartr wrote: post #5
votepaunchy wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The spacecraft was also required to travel 500 meters and transmit high-def video back to earth.

I always thought someone would put a tiny rover, perhaps a couple of kg, there and make it work. Using non-space-rated electronics, and making it up on the shielding is pretty risky, not NASA style but I figured for sure someone would roll the dice.

how would it make sense to boost more mass all the way to the moon to save on electronics cost? you can get rad hardened FPGAs, custom ICs aren't necessary.

Re: The Google Lunar X Prize’s Race to the Moon Is Over. Nobody Won

#12

Post by euyyn »

jpm_sd wrote: post #8

The X Prizes have a fairly lousy track record so far. Disappointing, and rather damning for the "moonshot" approach to innovation (as opposed to good old fashioned incremental engineering)

Which have already ended, and what came out of them?

Re: The Google Lunar X Prize’s Race to the Moon Is Over. Nobody Won

#14

Post by JumpCrisscross »

"Prizes are useful in bringing credibility to an industry, inspiring entrepreneurs and investors, and attracting new customers to an industry. Both the aviation and space benefited from the Orteig and Ansari X prizes.

But, by challenging people to perform what are essentially stunts, they do not always address the fundamental technologies required to truly move a sector forward. And that can have deadly consequences.

Lindbergh’s flight greatly boosted an accident-prone commercial aviation industry at a time when efforts to improve its safety had barely begun. The accident and death rates increased.

Winning the Ansari X Prize left Rutan and his team over confident in themselves and their technology based on an incomplete flight test program. The result has been four deaths and more than a decade of frustration and broken promises."

http://www.parabolicarc.com/2016/05/20/tale-prizes/

Re: The Google Lunar X Prize’s Race to the Moon Is Over. Nobody Won

#15

Post by melling »

jpm_sd wrote: post #8

The X Prizes have a fairly lousy track record so far. Disappointing, and rather damning for the "moonshot" approach to innovation (as opposed to good old fashioned incremental engineering)

"...as opposed to good old fashioned incremental engineering"

There was no opportunity cost. You can have both.

Re: The Google Lunar X Prize’s Race to the Moon Is Over. Nobody Won

#16

Post by make3 »

melling wrote: post #15
jpm_sd wrote: post #8

The X Prizes have a fairly lousy track record so far. Disappointing, and rather damning for the "moonshot" approach to innovation (as opposed to good old fashioned incremental engineering)

"...as opposed to good old fashioned incremental engineering" There was no opportunity cost. You can have both.

you can hire the people to work in engineering teams, instead of having them work in weird, not too constructive competition settings

Re: The Google Lunar X Prize’s Race to the Moon Is Over. Nobody Won

#17

Post by melling »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #14

"Prizes are useful in bringing credibility to an industry, inspiring entrepreneurs and investors, and attracting new customers to an industry. Both the aviation and space benefited from the Orteig and Ansari X prizes. But, by challenging people to perform what are essentially stunts, they do not always address the fundamental technologies required to truly move a sector forward. And that can have deadly consequences.…

There are a lot of X Prizes. Many, like the lunar prize, are not dangerous.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Prize_Foundation

The entire debate about a particular prize being nothing more than a stunt is a debate that doesn't fit well on HN.

A private group getting to the moon and sending video back, could inspire others, which could get NASA a larger budget, or lead to more VC funding.

Re: The Google Lunar X Prize’s Race to the Moon Is Over. Nobody Won

#18

Post by jpm_sd »

euyyn wrote: post #12
jpm_sd wrote: post #8

The X Prizes have a fairly lousy track record so far. Disappointing, and rather damning for the "moonshot" approach to innovation (as opposed to good old fashioned incremental engineering)

Which have already ended, and what came out of them?

Space & automotive: one-offs that have not resulted in any production follow-ons

https://ansari.xprize.org/ https://auto.xprize.org/

Ocean tech: incremental improvements to devices that were already in production https://oceanhealth.xprize.org/ https://oilcleanup.xprize.org/

Medical gadgets that I'm not qualified to comment on, but look pretty meh: https://tricorder.xprize.org/ https://sensing.xprize.org/

Genomics: canceled because "outpaced by innovation" https://genomics.xprize.org/

Re: The Google Lunar X Prize’s Race to the Moon Is Over. Nobody Won

#20

Post by Retric »

melling wrote: post #17
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #14

"Prizes are useful in bringing credibility to an industry, inspiring entrepreneurs and investors, and attracting new customers to an industry. Both the aviation and space benefited from the Orteig and Ansari X prizes. But, by challenging people to perform what are essentially stunts, they do not always address the fundamental technologies required to truly move a sector forward. And that can have deadly consequences.…

There are a lot of X Prizes. Many, like the lunar prize, are not dangerous. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Prize_Foundation The entire debate about a particular prize being nothing more than a stunt is a debate that doesn't fit well on HN. A private group getting to the moon and sending video back, could inspire others, which could get NASA a larger budget, or lead to more VC funding.

Launching a rocket capable of getting even a penny into space is dangerous. Reasonable precautions can mitigate those risks, but these things are not toys.
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