[SpaceProgram] 57 hours remaining to submit RFP for 100YSS

[Ricky Ng-Adam]

Hello Jerry!

On Thu, Nov 10, 2011 at 4:49 AM, Jerry Isdale <jerry at mauimakers.com> wrote:

> Aloha
>
> I've been remiss in putting some time to this effort. I looked at and
> edited the g-doc proposal a bit this AM. I added myself in the participant
> part and updated the MauiMakers section a bit.  In the Sources of Funding
> section, I added Crowd-Sourced (eg Kickstarter) for specific projects.
>

Good idea! The way I've got it setup right now is that we will have regular
distributions every 3 months to a new hackerspace to cover projects to the
amount of 30K$USD dollars. Obviously, additional funds to this would be
important and actually could be a good way to gauge how much support and
interest there is for a project. Perhaps a criteria before funding a
project out of the 100YSS.

One thought I had -- the program should have an educational component - one
> to teach people helping in near term, and for much later when starship is
> enroute.  This is a multi-generational effort and we need to train people
> up quickly.  Perhaps we could sponsor some competitions to develop focused
> self-taught/group classes in various Maker tech... rapid prototype
> machines, 3d design for rapid manufacturing, microelectronics (arduino,
> general electronics), troubleshooting, programming etc.  The course
> materials would be CC licensed and available through the organization to
> further the development of other projects.  We could/should have
> educational component to most of the other projects so as to distribute the
> knowledge of how to build it.
>

Kicking this off can be part of the job of the full-time officer of the
organization. We've been doing pretty well with our classes at XinCheJian
and I'd love to keep extending this educational effort.

Sponsoring hackerspace/open competitions for various focused topic
> challenges could be another good way for our organization to develop the
> general tech for the 100YSS.
>

The general sense I got from DARPA is that they'd rather have us develop
collaboration instead of the competition. Although organizing competition
instead of collaborative efforts is much easier to understand.


> That said, there is a LOT of stuff DARPA will be looking for in a
> proposal, not the least of which is the financial/management aspect.  I'm
> not qualified to do this part, but speak from experience with prior DARPA
> proposals.  They look heavily at both the tech side and the
> can-they-actually-pull-this-off side -- oh yeah and the
> can-they-handle-the-FAR-accounting-requirements angle.  I dont know if they
> need us to be FAR compliant. I hope not. That sucks up a huge chuck of the
> funding by itself.
>

I don't think FAR will enter the equation; we'll be a separate organization
with very little links back to DARPA apart from checking that we're
fulfilling our obligations. At least, that's the sense I get from reading
the requirements.

I've just worked on a cash flow:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AuPYJiOSewXLdEtTUGhSd3ZGQ0p6MmJfMzFoQzFLZ2c&hl=fr#gid=0


I think they'd be getting the best deal with us.  Me and Min Lin Hsieh
full-time with no salary - just covering our expenses. By the end of the
two years at least 8 different organizations participating with funded
projects using a majority of the original grant going to actually make
concrete progress towards the long-term goals of the 100YSS.

(I'm sure some may find it icky that I'm putting myself as a full-time
member of the organization but AFAIK there isn't that many people willing
to float around the planet for the next two years without a salary. Even
less finding two persons that have experience working as a team and
complimentary interests and skillset ^_^ But feel free to argue with me on
this if you don't like the idea.)

Lots to write up here to make it a full response.
>

Yes! Thanks for your help, much appreciated. I still have two days ahead of
me so I think we can make it. I feel more confident now that I have a
detailed cashflow.

Thanks,
-- 
伍思力 | Ricky Ng-Adam | http://xinchejian.com | (+86) 186-2126-2521
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