Remember the biosphere 2, a 1,600-acre reproduction of Earth's environment inside hermetically sealed glass? Texas oil tycoon Edward Bass sank $200 million into this monster, designed to prove how humans in a closed habitat could live in space. It was recently sold to developers for $50 million. Just because they're ultrarich doesn't mean that moguls are always smart--especially when it comes to vanity tech ventures.
Bill Gates
Geoengineering. $5 million
Picture a flotilla of unmanned schooners traversing the seas, equipped not with sailing masts but giant funnels that suck up saltwater and spray it into a wispy mist--serving as a sunshade for the ocean, reducing sea temperatures by as much as 1% to 2%.
John Sperling
Pet Cloning. $15 million
Puppy love or Frankenkitty? Dog lover and billionaire founder of online education powerhouse University of Phoenix, Sperling created a gene bank and animal cloning business called Genetic Savings and Clone a decade ago to reproduce beloved house pets, but not on the cheap: Two cloned kitties sold for $50,000 apiece. The company drew fire from bioethicists and eventually closed from lack of demand. It later reopened under a new name, BioArts International, and now focuses on stem-cell research. Attention SPCA.
David de Rothschild
How can the banking-heir-turned-eco-warrior believe that bobbing around in recycled plastic makes an ecological statement? The Plastiki is held buoyant by 12,000 pressurized 2-liter bottles ringing its hull, held together by cashew nut glue. This month de Rothschild plans to sail the 60-foot vessel, with its five-person crew, from San Francisco to Sydney to start a "global conversation" about ocean garbage. The voyage will take three months, assuming they make it. If the Plastiki breaks up at sea, those thousands of bottles could cause an eco-disaster.
Elon Musk
Space Travel. $100 million
The PayPal cofounder has already spent $30 million on electric cars. He once dreamed of putting a greenhouse on Mars. Now, despite three failed attempts, his SpaceX rocket factory near lax may soon launch a space commuter service to catapult humans into orbit for $20 million a seat. For that money you could book 14,000 round-trips to Paris from New York.
Larry Page and Sergey Brin
Now that they're done conquering Earth, the Google lads want to commercialize the cosmos, putting up $30 million for a series of awards called the Google Lunar X Prize. An installment goes to the first team to get a robot to the moon and travel a quarter-mile along its surface by the year 2014. Imagine the first Google Street Views of the lunar surface--and the new languages on Google Translate.
The Brothers Kwok
Noah's Ark. $45 million (Est.)
Hong Kong's Walter, Thomas and Raymond Kwok are devout Christian evangelicals who have built the world's first full replica of Noah's Ark, but updated with a luxury hotel, restaurant and museum. Other, less complete knockoffs have been built in the Netherlands, Canada and Turkey. Pray for rain!
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