An M Prize?

The X prize was very successful in spurring the private sector to achieve a minimal sub-orbital passenger spaceflight. Google's prize offer to get a commercial robotic rover to the Moon (while distinctly unambitious) has created a lot of competition. So what about a Mars, or M-prize? The first thing to say is that it would need to be very large to attract possible competitors, because the risk capital requirements to challenge for it would be simply enormous. In essence that means that only those seriously intent on going to Mars, with a plan for profitability, would challenge for it anyway. From the start it might therefore represent essentially dead money.

A more fruitful approach might be to set prizes for ancillary developments, like: habitat development, life support mechanisms, cargo modules, and most crucially of all, surface power supply. The more serious Space X, and Mars One, are about creating a colony then the more they are going to need all the help they can get. Entrepreneurs with deep pockets could push the Mars venture along considerably by offering the odd $20 to $50 million prize for solving carefully defined engineering problems. M prizes then, more than a single prize, might be a useful way to go.

Having raised the question of Mars surface power supply, I will be returning to that thorny subject later.