DIY Sci-Fi: science fiction, science fact.

• Author: Taylor, Jeff
• Position: Private players in scientific research - Brief Article

When the first "solar sail" vehicle, Cosmos 1, was lost in space last June, it looked like the ship--which uses pressure from sunlight to ply outer space--had joined a long line of cosmicsized failures. But Cosmos 1 represented a more enlightened way to test far-out theories. The effort was funded not by taxes but by the Planetary Society, a private, California-based space advocacy organization.

Another business-backed group has a 2010 target date for an operational "space elevator." Once merely a plot device in Arthur C. Clarke novels, the idea of a 22,300-mile-long cable car running from the earth's surface into space is now a testable proposition. Should it work, the cost of getting stuff into orbit would plummet.

And last year, space entrepreneur Burt Rutan snagged the $10 million Ansari X Prize for sending his SpaceShip One 100 kilometers above the earth. His ultimate goal is routine space tourism.

Taken together, these efforts...