Inspirationally enough, DARPA's 25+ Grand Challenge contestants spent $50 million pursuing the $1 million dollar prize:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20040314-121508-7915r.htm
"The defense agency spent $13 million on the race. It
estimates competitors laid out four to five times that
amount developing their entries, which rely on global
positioning satellites as well as a variety of
sensors, lasers, radar and cameras to orient
themselves and detect and avoid obstacles."
Talk about a full-employment act for engineers, scientists and their entrepreneurial allies. Even Burt Rutan tends to think prizes only leverage
about a 40:1 ratio of investment in pursuit of a prize (as he's quoted as saying at http://www.spaceprojects.com/prizes ). And as you know, the lack of results meant that the tax dollars stayed put.
Space/Science » in reply to Well, that was a bit of a letdown
DARPA prize leveraged a 50:1 investment, as Burt Rutan suggested it would...
The whole thread (35 posts)
- Well, that was a bit of a letdown
- ahem, as I told you before
- Not at all!
- DARPA prize leveraged a 50:1 investment, as Burt Rutan suggested it would...
- au contraire
- Let me guess! This involved a tax-funded government organization. (n/t)