Carnival of Space week 28

Planetary.org has the latest carnival of Space.

My contribution is about the overall lessons that should be taken from the recent Technology prize competitions (robotic cars, space elevators and lunar landers).

The carnival had a response to a Guardian op-ed. The carnival article indicated that there is no need to keep the moon pristine. I agree that is the case for the most part. Although parts of the dark side of the moon could be mainly used for large astronomy telescopes. This is no more than is done now on earth for areas around large telescopes.

There is also a report from hobbyspace.com that Bigelow and Space Florida are exploring the opening of a space related investment fund. Bigelow Aerospace and Space Florida are studying creation of a COTS-like fund called the Florida Space Transportation Initiative that would “support the development of a new, orbital space transportation system located at the Kennedy Space Center”. This follows recent statements from Robert Bigelow about plans to award a $760M contract to the first company that can provide 8 flights with crew and passengers to his habitats starting in 2010.

Centauri Dreams looks at the most recent study for using antimatter for space propulsion.