In the hands of some imaginative entrepreneurs, I'd bet those kinds of dollars could help create a very exciting time for US spaceflight.

Some of Pournelle's numbers seem terribly ambitious, though: "To the first American company to put not fewer than 31 Americans on the Moon and keep them there continuously for a period of three years and one day, $10 billion."

Wow. Wouldn't perhaps a dozen people resident on the moon for six months be more like it?

"To the first American company to put three humans in orbit and return them safely to Earth 18 times in one year using the same spacecraft ... $5 billion dollars."

Eighteen launches in a year sounds like a fairly punishing pace. Would 12, or even just 8, be more realistic?