Over on the sidebar of Colony Worlds, this author ran a mini poll asking readers whether or not Google’s X-Prize was of any benefit to humanity.

The poll closed four days ago with a grand total of 26 votes. Here are the results below:

Question: Is Google’s Lunar X-Prize Good For Humanity?

Choice 1: Yes, as it helps us reach the moon (17 votes or 65%)

Choice 2: No, as it won’t reduce the cost of rocket launches (3 votes or 11%)

Choice 3: Maybe, if they provide more money (1 vote or 3%)

Choice 4: No, as going to Mars is more important (1 vote or 3%)

Choice 5: Yes, as we can finally discover what moonbats are (4 votes or 15%)

The next poll will deal with who will colonize the Moon first, which was inspired by Mike Griffin’s comments regarding China.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the poll, and I am looking forward to the results of the next! (and no, moonbats will not be apart of this unscientific survey).

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Sam Wise of Sorting Out Science hosted this week’s Carnival of Space.

Despite being new to the event (at least to this author) Sam created a very professional layout for the Carnival, with a mash of links to not only some of the bloggers posts, but to related media sites as well.

We even had mention of space elevators, with the Marc of the Space Elevator Reference and Ted via the Space Elevator Blog.

Be sure to subscribe to either of those blogs as they are covering the Space Elevator Olympics (aka Space Elevator Games) in which their are currently six teams competing (you can find video’s over here).

Other interesting posts included:

• Louise of A Babe in the Universe wonders why it took so long to have a women command the ISS.
• Astro Prof goes in depth about solar power satellites (note: you can view it via Google cache if the site is down) which every newbie should read.
• Jesse of the Space Law Probe brings good tidings that there are no legal show stoppers to building a solar powered satellite.
• Quasar9 enlightens everyone on how satellite mirrors could be used to deflect asteroids.

Next week’s Carnival will be hosted by Pamela over at Star Stryder, and if anyone is interested in submitting a post to the Carnival of Space (as its always great to hear from fresh minds), please visit this link.

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After passing NASA’s last test with flying colors, it looks as if the NewSpace giant has cleared another hurdle in its attempt to become the main supplier to the International Space Station.

(Space Fellowship) SpaceX has successfully completed the Critical Design Review (CDR) for its first Falcon 9 / Dragon mission as part of the NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) demonstration program. [...]

During the event, all comments and questions raised by NASA’s experts were satisfactorily addressed by the SpaceX design team, which resulted in official NASA approval. With this, SpaceX continues its track record of meeting all COTS milestones on schedule.

“In terms of overall design maturity of the Falcon 9 project, we are well ahead of the curve for a program of this size,” said Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX. “Few CDRs feature multiple hardware items in fabrication, assembly, integration and test phases.”

Currently SpaceX is the main player when it comes to securing the COTS (or Commercial Orbital Transportation Services) from NASA.

If SpaceX is able to clear the remaining hurdles, they could potentially open up the doorway for the private sector to colonize the Moon, which would free up NASA to send men towards Mars.

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(Image Credit: Himalayan Academy)

It look as if the Chinese government will be spreading the socialistic gospel in the heavens above. Not satisfied with millions of registerd members on Earth, China wishes to establish a communist branch beyond the sky.

(Space Travel) Chinese taikonauts (astronauts) may start a branch of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in space, said the country’s first taikonaut Yang Liwei. China now has a 14-strong astronaut team. The team members, including Yang himself, are all CPC members. “If China has its own space station, the taikonauts on mission will carry out the regular activities of a CPC branch in space in the way we do on earth, such as learning the Party’s policies and exchanging opinions on the Party’s decisions,” said Yang, a delegate to the on-going CPC national congress in Beijing. [...]

“Like foreign astronauts having their beliefs, we believe in Communism, which is also a spiritual power,” said Yang. “We may not pray in the way our foreign counterparts do, but the common belief has made us more united in space, where there is no national boundary, to accomplish our missions.”

Although such rhetoric may be an indicator that our fragile planet is heading for another cold war, it may help motivate the US (as well as its capitalistic space businesses) to take the moon much more seriously.

As the dream of harnessing helium-3 becomes more of a reality, we will probably see an increase of nationalism as various nations carve out lunar territories–and defend their “white lands” viciously via lunar armies.

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Violators (and hosts) can be prosecuted under national and international laws.