I was in a coffee shop recently and overheard a young couple discussing whether or not it was morally responsible to bring a child into today's world given all of the global challenges we face.
What's curious about their question and the dark contemporary mood it represents is...

The official private race to the moon is on! Recently, my colleagues at the X PRIZE Foundation announced the official roster of 29 registered teams competing for the $30 million Google Lunar X PRIZE. Included in this new announcement are eight teams not previously known to the public, including teams...

For those who have followed the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE, today has been a long time coming.  Our vision from the start was to reinvent the paradigm for cars the public can drive. We wanted to ensure that these cars...

We're approximately six months from awarding up to $10 million in prize money in the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE, and the competition is heating up. In the beginning, more than 110 teams from 20 nations registered to compete. As of today, there are over 30 teams, representing over 40...

After 30 years of doing business the same way, NASA is finally entering the 21st century by embracing competition, capitalism and entrepreneurship. In NASA's new budget, President Obama and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden have proposed spending billions of dollars to purchase commercial human launch services and invest in game changing...

Today Virgin Galactic and Scaled Composites rolled out SpaceShipTwo (SS2) a commercial passenger carrying spaceship derived from the winning ship which captured the $10M Ansari X PRIZE (www.xprize.org) for spaceflight in 2004.  While SpaceShipOne (SS1) carried only one pilot and two passengers, the much larger SS2 will be...

Today's announcement by NASA of significant water on the south pole of the Moon is scientifically critical, economically astounding and extremely important for the long-term future of humanity. Further, this finding now defines the most "valuable real estate in the solar system."

On October 9th, the LCROSS collision, run by...

By Peter H. Diamandis, X PRIZE Chairman & CEO

Today, October 4th, is the 5 year anniversary of the winning of the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE for spaceflight. The most important legacy and meaning of the Ansari X PRIZE on its five year anniversary...

Part 5: Brian Binnie Makes History


One of the biggest concerns people have about space travel is whether or not it is safe. Yet, while I was launching into sub-orbit, the safety risk was the last thing on my mind. I was intimately involved in the...

Last week brought us the exciting official news of water on the Moon. This news is scientifically critical and, more importantly, economically astounding. From a scientific point of view, we now know that the water is interlaced with the lunar soil in many locations, perhaps as remnants of comet...

Ever since I was a young girl in Iran, I have had a deep curiosity and active imagination which peak whenever I look up at the night sky. I'm fascinated to think about how we got to this place and time, what will come after us and what else...

Launching Commercial Space Travel - Part 3

Will Whitehorn and Virgin Galactic Want to Bring You to Space

The '60s and '70s were space eras. NASA had launched the Apollo program (1963 - 1972), and with that, space exploration was alive. We had accomplished a...

To commemorate the 5th anniversary of the winning of the Ansari X PRIZE, every week through October 2, read the inspirational stories of the visionaries and heroes who turned their "crazy ideas" into a reality.

Guest Blogger Dumitru Popescu:

In 2000, I recruited a highly educated and skilled Aerospace...

Many people look at the X PRIZE Foundation and say, "WOW" - what a great idea." What they may not know is how one person's initial concept evolves to that "WOW" stage of achievement. Here's my journey.

I am a space cadet.

Since the age of 6, I've always...

The McKinsey & Company Report, "And the Winner is...Capturing the Promise of Philanthropic Prizes," was released March 3, 2009. The Report concluded that incentive prizes are a unique and...

This week marks the launch of a new University. It's rare to launch a new University these days, so I'm very honored and pleased to have given birth to Singularity University (www.singularityU.org) along with fellow X PRIZE Trustee Ray Kurzweil. Singularity University (or "SU") aims to assemble, educate and...

I spoke at the X PRIZE Foundation's incentive2innovate (i2i) Conference last month in NY. But when it was my turn at the podium, my take was that a conference about collaboration and innovation shouldn't be dominated by one way communication - so as usual, I got the audience interacting with...