Bingo!
Dead on on the small company versus large company comment Tom. The problem is the small company attitude which would be a large improvement over NASA is not backed by finances up to the job. The large corporations that are, will not bite on risky prizes. I would love to try the approach in some form of noncritical pathway though. Wouldn't mind being proven wrong on this, just mind tyrowing out the baby with the bath water for an approach that has no solid basis for confidence in.
Regards,
Mark