I'm going to be on a reality t.v. show
Normally, I don't have much interest in such things, but "Starwalker" finally caught and held my attention. The contest has at least two completely different 'tracks' (for lack of more appropriate terminology): one in Australia, the other in North America. The ultimate winners of those two areas will get to go into space. It really is the first reality t.v. show concept in which I would want to participate, let alone watch.
Call me crazy, but anything that lets me reduce the usual costs of such an adventure gets my attention. The traditional route of going to college, getting a Masters' in, say, materials engineering ("Transparent aluminum?") or industrial biochemistry (a waste-reclamation plant that fit into a single module for the ISS) would set me back hundreds of thousands of dollars, which is definitely out of my reach. The "space tourist" approach of forking over up to $35 million USD is even moreso. So: reality t.v. and a heavily-sponsored "shortcut".
The first two "challenges" have already been announced. The first is a half-marathon (21 km). I'm not in shape to run it at full speed, though I've definitely got my mind-game in place. I've ridden a bicycle from Mountain View to San Francisco, and walked from the Kabuki Theater in S.F. to the Daly City BART station, so my overall endurance is not in question. The real barrier is whether I can handle covering that distance before 50% of the other entrants in the contest... and recover in time to participate in the "Boat Challenge" two days later, AND perform better than 50% of the remaining contestants.
Basic math, for anyone who doesn't want to do it: Pretend that there are 100 entrants. 50 of those will be dropped from the show after the marathon. 25 of the remainder won't get past the "boat challenge". 25 contestants for the remainder of the show seems fairly reasonable, if between one and three contestants are dropped from the roster per episode. That would mean that there would be a minimum of 9 episodes and a maximum of 24. I'll have to do some research on how such things work, though the popularity of the genre has led to lots of books on the subject being written.
One portion of Starwalker's web presence indicates that there are 41,000 entries waiting to be processed into the contest, which complicates speculation somewhat. I have no idea what the selection criteria might be, so there's no way to know how many entrants will be on the starting line.
Still, I'm not in this to get a participation ribbon. It's a chance to go to space, and a chance to give the space program my personal assistance in its never-ending fight for survival. For that, I'll give everything I've got.
Call me crazy, but anything that lets me reduce the usual costs of such an adventure gets my attention. The traditional route of going to college, getting a Masters' in, say, materials engineering ("Transparent aluminum?") or industrial biochemistry (a waste-reclamation plant that fit into a single module for the ISS) would set me back hundreds of thousands of dollars, which is definitely out of my reach. The "space tourist" approach of forking over up to $35 million USD is even moreso. So: reality t.v. and a heavily-sponsored "shortcut".
The first two "challenges" have already been announced. The first is a half-marathon (21 km). I'm not in shape to run it at full speed, though I've definitely got my mind-game in place. I've ridden a bicycle from Mountain View to San Francisco, and walked from the Kabuki Theater in S.F. to the Daly City BART station, so my overall endurance is not in question. The real barrier is whether I can handle covering that distance before 50% of the other entrants in the contest... and recover in time to participate in the "Boat Challenge" two days later, AND perform better than 50% of the remaining contestants.
Basic math, for anyone who doesn't want to do it: Pretend that there are 100 entrants. 50 of those will be dropped from the show after the marathon. 25 of the remainder won't get past the "boat challenge". 25 contestants for the remainder of the show seems fairly reasonable, if between one and three contestants are dropped from the roster per episode. That would mean that there would be a minimum of 9 episodes and a maximum of 24. I'll have to do some research on how such things work, though the popularity of the genre has led to lots of books on the subject being written.
One portion of Starwalker's web presence indicates that there are 41,000 entries waiting to be processed into the contest, which complicates speculation somewhat. I have no idea what the selection criteria might be, so there's no way to know how many entrants will be on the starting line.
Still, I'm not in this to get a participation ribbon. It's a chance to go to space, and a chance to give the space program my personal assistance in its never-ending fight for survival. For that, I'll give everything I've got.