[SpaceProgram] DARPA-RA-11-70 100YSS Notification

[Alex]

Hi Ricky,

Oh well - just means we can get looking for other sources of financing that are less controversial! You did a great job with the proposal, and without you we never would've started getting this dream off the ground in the first place. We've just hit a stumbling block, that's all, one we'll overcome.

I'll be active on the mailing list and wiki following new year, and start gathering ideas for other sponsors/partners to push this forwards. I'll also start contacting other hackerspaces with space projects and try to coordinate a unified effort.

To infinity and beyond!
Alex

Alex Cureton-Griffiths
Twitter: alexcg / Skype: alexceegee

On 31 Dec 2011, at 12:01 AM, Ricky Ng-Adam <rngadam at xinchejian.com> wrote:

> Hello!
> 
> We have sadly NOT been selected for the DARPA 100 Year Starship... Sorry to everyone who put their time into this. I'd like to extend my sincere personal excuses towards everyone who contributed and hoped for this to work out. I obviously should have done a better job at this!
> 
> I haven't been offered more details on why precisely we were rejected but naturally I still think that Hackerspaces, as technical communities that already are in existence and are self-sustainable were the ONLY logical choice for such an organization but apparently DARPA disagreed....
> 
> In any case, I think direct funding from DARPA would have been controversial for many hackerspaces (as witnessed on the hackerspaces.org mailing list recently). I do believe that many efforts are ongoing in Hackerspaces around the world to explore space. Among other things, at XinCheJian, we just had a meeting this evening to discuss building testing equipment for going to space (vibration, thermal gradient, shock, g-forces, vacuum, etc) as the first logical step to building our own space robots.
> 
> Hopefully whatever organization that receives the funds will realize that Hackerspaces are the best physical spaces to conduct projects of benefit to humanity.
> 
> Notification letter extract attached.
> 
> Thanks,
> -- 
> 伍思力 | Ricky Ng-Adam | http://xinchejian.com | (+86) 186-2126-2521
> <DARPA notification extract.jpg>
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