The thrills and weirdness of the weekend-long X Prize Cup -- a combo space exposition, military air show, state fair and pitch session for aspiring entrepreneurs -- are done. Now all we're left with are some NASA temporary tattoos, a slight Red Bull hangover, a persistent ringing of the ears and a growing e-archive of material to sort through.
Wired's got an interview with X Prize Foundation founder Peter Diamandis.
More cool event photos from Chris Jonas.
Space.com dedicated a section to the event.
4) The X Prize also held a contest for whip-smart high school students with ideas for space-travel gadgetry. The Pete Conrad Spirit of Innovation Award was awarded to Michael & Talia, from Los Angeles, for imagining sunglasses that monitor astronauts' vital signs. They won a $5000 NASA grant. Other winners were GADastro of Northbrook, Ill. ($2500) and PenguinED of Friendswood, Texas ($1500). Full details on the competitors and their concepts here.
- Armadillo Aerospace's still our hero, even though they crashed/burned this weekend. We expect John Carmack's team to try, try again to win some of the Lunar Lander Challenge prize money in 2008. And we'll be awaiting their video updates, with cool stuff taken from their two successful flights and from their several disasters, which Carmack told me he'd have up in the next week or so.
