So, given the projected $1 billion price tag for developing the necessary techniques for radical life extension in a mouse model, how big would the Methuselah Mouse Prize have to be in order to inspire this level of research funding?
The $10 million Ansari X Prize has generated something like $160 million in research investment in a field with traditionally high barriers to entry. If the ratio in serious anti-aging research is also 16:1, then the Methuselah Mouse Prize fund would have to stand at $62.5 million in order to generate $1 billion in competing funding.
This is a large figure, but not an unreasonably large figure. Now that the Ansari X Prize is almost won, interested parties in the aerospace industry are proposing a $50 million prize for the goal of privately developed orbital spacecraft. This progression from nothing to the $10 million X Prize to the $50 million America's Space Prize has taken place over only seven years, alongside the growth of an industry.
We can achieve this same goal of growth for serious anti-aging research as well - so support the mouse!