Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Peter Diamandis on the X PRIZE and Private Space Flight
His Zero Gravity Corporation lets the public experience weightlessness during parabolic flight, and his company Space Adventures has taken four tourists to the International Space Station.
But space entrepreneur Peter Diamandis may be best known as the chairman and CEO of the X PRIZE Foundation, which in 2004 awarded the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE to aviation icon Burt Rutan, whose SpaceShipOne was the first private, manned spacecraft to reach suborbital space twice within two weeks.
Diamandis is on a mission to open space for all humanity, and he embraces the risk inherent to such an undertaking. "A true breakthrough requires tremendous levels of risk," says Diamandis. "It's really in the entrepreneurial sector that people are willing to risk their lives, risk their fortunes, their reputations, to do something they fundamentally believe they can do."
Diamandis is now developing X PRIZES in a variety of fields, including education and medicine.
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Stephen Hawking Hits Zero G
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Taking the Next Giant Leap in Space
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The Grouch: Pay special attention to Diamandis' comments on how regulation stifles innovation, and how government is an impediment to technological breakthroughs.
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No, government is great, and the bigger, the better! :)
ReplyDeleteI would be terrified to go into space, but I don't even like to fly. I think it is a fascinating idea though.
I just keep thinking of the guy that owned the Segway company and he just died driving a new version of the Segway off a cliff (assumed accidentally).
Hopefully the Segway accident wasn't due to a product defect. But the pioneers of any high risk endeavor like airplanes back in the early 1900's or space travel today are putting themselves at great risk to pursue their dream. The odds are there will be fatalities until the technology is perfected, but let's hope not many.
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