Sunday, September 13, 2009

From game programmer to aerospace pioneer

So, what does a programmer do when he creates some of the most successful and influential computer games of his age? Well, the average reaction of young guys striking it rich, is buying exotic sport cars, and play with them. But what if you get bored with those? Where do you get your kicks now? Well, when John Carmack got bored with Ferrari's, he moved on to rockets, and started his own aerospace company.


Pioneers like Charles Lindbergh were spurred on by prize money ($25000 in his case). John Carmack's company just claimed a $1000000 prize known as the x-prize. It is a lot of fun following John Carmack's blogs about his progress: how he bids on antique russian space suits on ebay, in the hope he can reuse them for his manned spaceflights. (Unfortunately, he could not). He's an inspiration for my generation, and lives the dream of every technophile. Watch the video to see what his creation is capable of.


2 comments:

Bram Stolk Sr said...

Well...I happened to know one of these guys, he collects motorcycles and Chevy Camaro muscle cars, likes to live at the shorelines in expensive apartments at Beach Ave and owns a capital house in Lelystad..........

De namen van de competing companies zeggen me niet zoveel, de sponsor Northrop Grumman, de testlocations White Sands, Mojave des te meer.

Als je je eens lekker wilt uitleven moet je proberen een Internship te verkrijgen bij deze jongens voor een maand of drie....

De uitdaging om de test hier op aarde uit te voeren is ongetwijfeld zwaarder dan in SITU op de maan zelf.

Ik zet mijn kaarten op de jongens van Armadillo

Bram said...

Yep... testen met 1g betekent dat het meer op een mars lander lijkt dan een maan lander.