Ansari X Prize
The Ansari X Prize (often just called the X Prize) is a US$10,000,000 prize, to be awarded to the first non-government organization that can launch a reusable manned spacecraft into space. It is modelled after early 20th century aviation prizes.
27 teams from around the world are participating, ranging from volunteer hobbyists to large corporate-backed operations. Some teams have made headlines with their tests, and one, SpaceShipOne (made by Scaled Composites), accomplished a high-profile, full altitude test flight of their craft on June 21, 2004.
| Table of contents |
|
2 Contest 3 Status 4 Organization 5 List of contestants 6 List of major donors by order of donation 7 See also 8 External links |
Motivation
The X Prize is designed to help encourage the space industry in the private sector, which is why the entries are not allowed to have any government funding. It aims to demonstrate that space flight can be affordable and accessible to corporations and civilians, opening the door to commercial space flight and space tourism. It also hopes that competition will breed innovation, introducing new low-cost methods of entering Earth's orbit. If everything goes as planned, the X Prize winners could become pioneers of low-cost space travel and unfettered human expansion into the solar system.
The X Prize is modeled after many prizes from the early 20th century that helped prod the development of air flight—notably the $25,000 Orteig Prize that spurred Charles Lindbergh to make his solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. NASA is developing similar prize programs called Centennial Challenges to help rejuvinate interest in manned space travel in the wake of the Columbia disaster in February 2003.
Contest
The prize will be awarded to the first team that can launch a piloted spacecraft, carrying at least three crewmembers (or one human pilot and ballast equivalent to two more), to an altitude of at least 100 kilometerss (62 miles), and then repeat the feat using the same spacecraft within two weeks. This is a sub-orbital flight, which reaches the boundary of space, as defined by the FAI, but doesn't go into Earth orbit. The spacecraft will be able to land at the same site that it launched from.
The two flights must be made by the same vehicle. With the exception of propellant, no more than 10% of the vehicle may be replaced between flights; the rest of the vehicle must be reused. Even NASA's space shuttle falls short of this performance requirement, since it takes much more than two weeks to ready a given shuttle between flights. The vehicle must be intact and theoretically reusable after the second flight, and the crew must return unharmed.
Status
No competitive flights have been made so far. Scaled Composites have announced their intention to make competitive flights, starting with SpaceShipOne flight 16P on September 29 2004.
The da Vinci Project will unveil their spacecraft, Wild Fire, on August 5 2004. Project leader and pilot Brian Feeney announced at the ship might make a competitive flight in the Fall of 2004.
The X Prize Foundation reports that two other teams are nearly ready to make test flights, and may compete before the end of 2004. [1]
Organization
Created in May 1996 and initially called just X Prize, it was renamed Ansari X Prize on May 6, 2004 following a multimillion dollar donation from Iranian-born entrepreneurs Anousheh Ansari and Amir Ansari.
The X PRIZE Foundation, (based in St. Louis, Missouri), maintains a list of organizations registered to compete for the prize. Some companies developed their craft in secret, not publicly announcing their plans until they're ready to request air/space permission from their local government. Such is the case with Scaled Composites, a company that remained unknown as a competitor until April 2003. This list notably does not include traditional space access companies like Boeing and Lockheed, which many in the industry believe to be incapable of replacing their present space transportation vehicles with low-cost alternatives. These critics claim as evidence the companies' several failed attempts to do so, such as the X-33 project, on contract from NASA and other U.S government agencies. However, the X Prize Foundation itself does not bar these companies from applying, so long as they can prove their efforts on this project would be free of government funding.
Currently, the X Prize's funding will expire on January 1, 2005. Therefore, most of the teams that are still in the running are scurrying to launch before then. While the list of teams in the forefront might seem obvious based on news reports and updates on the team web sites, any teams developing in secret might appear suddenly on the playing field.
List of contestants
| List of Aircraft | Aircraft Manufacturers | Aircraft Engines | Aircraft Engine Manufacturers Airlines | Air Forces | Aircraft Weapons | Missiles | Years in Aviation |
List of major donors by order of donation
See also
Related technical topics:
External links