My final post from the Google Lunar X PRIZE sidelines

Since meeting William Pomerantz in 2009, I’ve been covering the Google Lunar X PRIZE.  I’ve been to two team summits (which media aren’t really invited to), done countless interviews, many podcasts, researched the hidden rooms of the Smithsonian Archives, and fought hard to get teams to tell their human story.

I’ve grown friendships with many people from many of the teams.  There are some real visionaries in this competition.

I’ve become mini famous for my GLXP scorecard (infamous really).

I’ve decided to join the Part Time Scientists team as Press Coordinator.

My job at Part Time Scientists is twofold.  First and foremost is to tell the human side of story.  Robots, rockets, and rovers are cool, but it’s the human story that’s really interesting. I’m an expert in radio communications and technology, but it’s the emotional connection that I’m most interested in exploring. Second, I’m coordinating the PR.  I’ll start mostly in the US, but I suspect as things ramp up, that scope will broaden quite a bit.

I  believe that the Google Lunar X PRIZE is not about winning 20 million dollars and it’s also not about creating a way for private companies to secure fat government contracts.

The prize is about what is created because of the competition.

My vision for space is a big one.  We need a  real private industry in space.  One where governments serve their people by assisting their aspirations rather than achieving goals for them.

Obviously being a team member will mean I will have to stop maintaining the scorecard. I’m going to leave it up with a notice that says that this is what I thought the standings were in September 2012. If you’re interested in picking up where I left off I might entertain the thought of that. Send me an email and we can chat about it.

I want kids to be able to look up and say “I want to work on THAT.”

I want people to get out of their seats and participate in a bright future where anything is possible.

I’m on to build shoulders for future generations to stand on and reach higher than we were able to. A small group of dedicated people can change the world … and that’s exactly what we’re going to do.