The Speculist

As we have discussed recently here and here (and in our latest edition of FastForward Radio), push prizes are making things happen. Maybe they won't singlehandedly save the world, but then again, when you read something like this...

A slim cable for a space elevator has been built stretching a mile into the sky, enabling robots to scrabble some way up and down the line.

LiftPort Group, a private US company on a quest to build a space elevator by April 2018, stretched the strong carbon ribbon 1 mile (1.6 km) into the sky from the Arizona desert outside Phoenix in January tests, it announced on Monday.

The company's lofty objective will sound familiar to followers of NASA's Centennial Challenges programme. The desired outcome is a 62,000-mile (99,779 km) tether that robotic lifters – powered by laser beams from Earth – can climb, ferrying cargo, satellites and eventually people into space.

(via InstaPundit)

The Speculist hasn't been around all that long, but in the time that we've existed the idea of a space elevator has gone from extreme fringe to fairly mainstream. That's remarkable. And there's no question that the Centennial Challenge program has played a roll.

Obviously, what the world desperately needs is a flying car push prize. I will personally pony up $20. If every guy who has ever dreamed of owning a flying car would do the same, we'd have an easy half billion. Who's with me?