Speaking of space, Google has recently offered a total of $30 million for any non-government entity who can get a rover to the moon and shoot some video for You Tube.

The trouble I have with this is the same trouble I had with the “X Prize” — way, way, way too little prize money. Come on, $30M? Sergey probably uses that for kindling in his fireplace–every night. That “X Prize” money was a joke to begin with, since only the richest of the rich could even begin to go after such a project.

If they really want to give the space program a kick in the pants, then offer cut-rate launch facilities. Heck, I’d try to build a rover, and a good team could probably do it a lot cheaper than any government agency, but how the heck am I going to be able to afford a launch, at least without some big corporate backing?

(Besides the launch facility issue, some people have mentioned the trouble of getting local government approval for launch sites, FAA approval of vehicles, FCC approval for transmitters, etc. To which I say: Who says you need to launch in the States? Go somewhere that wants bragging rights. I’m sure the Chinese wouldn’t mind.)

 Want innovation? Give out $50K grants to smart kids building robots in their basements. Fuck the well-funded university teams. Fuck the corporations and their naming rights. Give some money to the real innovators out there, the kids trying to put together a rover out of remote control car parts and web cams.