[extropy-chat] Crazy Wealthy Space Enthusiasts?

[Amara Graps]

To follow up an idea by Perry Metzger. In a rather nasty
cancellation(*), NASA has dropped one of my working group's main
projects, Dawn (**) about 9 months from launch, we had only about 5% of
the spacecraft left to finish (all instruments are finished and
part-way integrated on the spacecraft). The Dawn scientists will fight
the cancellation, but I don't think the project head has a strategy
yet.

Perry's suggestion is to find private funding for the remaining
40 million dollars to finish the mission. This is a radical idea for
planetary scientists generally, but to take his suggestion seriously,
I should first learn who are the 'crazy' space enthusiasts today
who are also wealthy? I am a bit isolated here, and am not in a good
position to know, except that I know they are rare (!). Paul Allen is
one. Can anyone here suggest others?

Amara

(*)
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=19838
http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00000475/
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=tus&q=Dawn+mission+cancellation&btnG=Search+News

(**)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawn_Mission

-- 

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Amara Graps, PhD          email: amara at amara.com
Computational Physics     vita:  ftp://ftp.amara.com/pub/resume.txt
Multiplex Answers         URL:   http://www.amara.com/
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"A million here, a million there, sooner or later it is real money."
    --  U.S. Senator Dirksen