re why not give billion to first year long moon residents in apr iti org aws iti org allen w sherzer writes depends if you assume the existance of a working ssto like dc on billion would be enough to put about a quarter million pounds of stuff on the moon if some of that mass went to send equipment to make lox for the transfer vehicle you could send a lot more either way its a lot more than needed this prize isn t big enough to warrent developing a ssto but it is enough to do it if the vehicle exists but allen if you can assume the existence of an ssto there is no need to have the contest in the first place i would think that what we want to get out of the contest is the development of some of these cheaper ways of doing things if they already exist why flush g just to get someone to go to the moon for a year insisting on perfect safety is for people who don t have the balls to live in the real world mary shafer nasa ames dryden fred mccall dseg ti com i don t speak for others and they don t speak for me
