>You gots ta have your basic billionaire with the bug for space
>Musk, Carmac (only a few million) and Bezos

Don't forget Anderson, Bigelow, Tito, and Shuttleworth. Blind optimism is never prudent, but I think that we are headed for some interesting times.

However, don't fall into the trap of thinking that you need to be a multi-millionair to undertake any worthwhile projects, so it isn't worth trying. I still contend that there are quite a few EAA chapters that could have gone for the X-Prize if a bunch of members stopped building airplaines and pooled their skills and resources towards a rocketship.

Several years ago, when everyone still had vsions of orbit dancing in their heads, a suborbital venture like mine would have been mocked (Pat Bahn of TGV is rather bitter about all the flak he took as the initial proponent of suborbital business ventures many years ago). There are good things to be done orders of magnitude below what we are pushing.

John Carmack
www.armadilloaerospace.com