In article ,
Ruediger Klaehn wrote:
But a prize of $1B for a moon shot is not an ungodly amount of money. You
might even argue that it is way too low.

Indeed, that's the sort of number you want for a prize: it's too small to
make it a profitable project for a traditional aerospace company like
LockMart, but it's large enough to offer some hope of a big payoff to more
innovative competitors.

...Give them billions and they'll spend billions too.

You don't give them billions up front. You give them billions once they have
earned it. That is a huge difference.

If you pay people for making an effort toward a goal, the rational thing
for them to do is to maximize effort while making very slow progress.
(When you think about it, this explains many things.) Whereas if you pay
for results rather than effort...
--
"Think outside the box -- the box isn't our friend." | Henry Spencer
-- George Herbert |