Rocket Prize Awards
Jim Bowery
I hereby, and until notice to the contrary, endow the Bowery Award for
Amateur Rocketry with $1000 going to the next amateurs launching
a vehicle to a height in excess of 200 kilometers, to be disbursed
at my sole discretion.
I encourage others to take similar stands in favor of amateur technology.
The Internet provides a unique opportunity to promote space technology
via prize awards.
Individuals can post a public pledge of money as a prize award for
any technical objective they see fit, to be disbursed at their sole
discretion. With enough diversity of people and technical objectives,
there would be a "fuzzy" gradient of incentive created for ever higher
performance amateur rockets, not dependent on the credibility of any one
organization's political structure for "fairness" or good technical
judgement. A periodic posting of all such prize award offers in this,
and related, newsgroups, would serve as an ongoing challenge to technical
excellence and as an inspiration for young people.
As the individual primarily responsible for introducing and passing
launch vouchers legislation, and as someone who has worked professionally
on the commercialization of the Peacekeeper missile technology as a
launch system, I have a tremendous respect for many "amateur" rocket
enthusiasts and believe they can make critical contributions to the
advancement of the space frontier through technical excellence --
particularly if they are given the recognition they deserve. Prize
awards, paltry as they might be in terms of compensation, can at least
provide a real demonstration of recognition from the community served by
such innovators.
--
The promotion of politics exterminates apolitical genes in the population.
The promotion of frontiers gives apolitical genes a route to survival.
Change the tools and you change the rules.
Jim Bowery
The size of the award is not nearly as important as its simple existence.
I put up $1000 because that is what I can afford. I hope that the fact
that I happen to be "in the money" (for the time being) doesn't inhibit
others from making up their own prize awards of more modest amounts.
It's the principle of the thing that counts. Even if you are a young
persona with only $10 to spare, putting your good name behind it is an
honorable act.