http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/20...spaceprize.html

 

 

 

 

Edge-of-Space Ship Designers Vie for Sky-High Prize

 

Sam Burbank

National Geographic Today

July 7, 2003

 

Government space agencies just can't fly fast enough to satisfy the demand for in-space applications like satellite communications, tourism, and energy harvesting.

 

So entrepreneurs around the world are developing a private aerospace industry with the passion, resourcefulness, and energy of pioneers.

 

The EZ-Rocket (top) flies under rocket power at the world's largest air show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The Xerus suborbital space vehicle (bottom), seen in this concept rendering by XCOR Aerospace, would fly 60 miles (100 kilometers) above the Earth.

 

One incentive that symbolizes the new private space race is the X-Prize: U.S. ten million dollars for the first team to send three people to the brink of space?about 60 miles (100 kilometers) from Earth?and return them safely, then duplicate the feat in the same spacecraft within two weeks.

 

The X-Prize puts a premium on a reusable, economical spacecraft?not a ponderous, pricey shuttle.

 

To aerospace entrepreneur Peter Diamandis, mastermind, chairman, and president of the privately funded X-Prize Foundation in St. Louis, Missouri, the award is akin to the Orteig Prize that inspired Charles Lindbergh to cross the Atlantic in 1927.

 

"We now have 25 registered teams, and at least six are actively building flight hardware," Diamandis says. "It's possible that we'll see one or two teams make flight attempts toward the 60-mile [100-kilometer] threshold before the end of the year, but I expect that the actual winning flights will be in early 2004."

 

"The most important thing going on here is people are starting to dream again," says Diamandis.

 

Registered teams come from Argentina, Canada, Great Britain, Israel, Romania, Russia, and the United States.

 

Ground Zero for American Private Rocketry

 

The hotbed of American private rocketry is the Mojave Civilian Flight Test Center, in Mojave, California, ground zero for half a dozen new rocket companies.

 

Like other high-tech industries, private rocketry relies mainly on venture capital for funding.

 

"For the first year we funded ourselves out of our savings accounts," says Dan DeLong, Chief Engineer at XCOR Aerospace. "None of us is rich, and that got really scary. Fortunately, Mojave is a real low-cost-of-living place to be."

 

The Mojave atmosphere is invigorating for the independent rocketeers.

 

"You can get away with stuff here that maybe you couldn't try anywhere else," says Buzz Lange, an engineer and crew chief with XCOR, a rocket company founded in 1999. "Running a rocket engine is normal, everyday fare. It's pretty exciting."

 

XCOR has pulled together a team of a dozen space enthusiasts, some with experience at NASA or big aerospace companies. Most of the XCOR staffers have dreamed of becoming an astronaut.

 

"I framed my first rejection for the astronaut program, and that was in the 1970s," Lange says. "So you can just imagine how low I'd qualify now. We want to go to space, and the line is just a little too long at NASA."

 

XCOR hasn't registered for the X-Prize but is keeping all options open.

 

EZ-Rocket to Xerus

 

The XCOR staffers are convinced they have an idea that will fly: a rocket-plane that takes off from a normal runway, then points straight up, and propels the paying passengers to the black edge of space for a brief visit with weightlessness and a unique photo opportunity.

 

XCOR's first step was the so-called EZ-Rocket?essentially a build-it-yourself Long-EZ aircraft with rocket engines added that runs on a mix of rubbing alcohol and liquid oxygen. It can fly to a maximum altitude of two miles.

 

XCOR successfully tested the spacecraft in 2001. But it seats only a pilot and it can't make it all the way to space.

 

"We built the EZ-Rocket to show that we have a team that can put a rocket engine on a flight vehicle, and that we can fly multiple times per day for a reasonable price," DeLong says.

 

XCOR has since racked up another 14 flights?and it's a crowd-pleaser at air shows.

 

EZ-Rocket is the first incarnation of a larger rocket-plane, Xerus, envisioned as a spacecraft. In March, XCOR tested a new type of rocket engine, more powerful than the EZ, which will attach to another pre-built aircraft.

 

Lange expects that XCOR will build two intermediate rocket-planes before Xerus.

 

"Our approach is like a ladder: little steps," Lange says. "Persistence is the key. The ride, not the destination, is what matters. It's just a different way of life, an edge, that's what I like."

Now this is exciting.

 

 

Not only do you have the possiblity of a resuable ship, unlike NASA employs, but this makes space flight potentially possible for everyday people and for millions less than people pay Russia.

 

 

People will be making space flights and we will form a space colony within 50 years.

 

 

Space truly is going to be the unexplored frontier. Human curiousity is going to get us there. Our inventiness will get us there.

 

 

Chime in with your thoughts please.

As per Johnny's request here you go........

Thank you Das.

 

 

Here is the latest update:

 

SPACESHIPONE GLIDE TEST SUCCESSFUL

08.11.03

The space ship was launched at 47,000 feet and 105 knots, 10 nm east of Mojave. Separation was clean and positive with no tendency to roll off or pitch bobble. An initial handling qualities evaluation was very positive, supported close correlation to the vehicle simulator and with that confidence, the first flight test cards were executed as planned. The flight provided handling quality and performance data over 60% of the expected subsonic flight envelope from stall to 150 knots. Trim sensitivity, stick forces, control harmony and L/D performance were all as expected. The on-board avionics and energy management cueing displays performed flawlessly, the gear extension rapid, and the vehicle made a smooth touchdown at 7:56 local on Runway 30 at Mojave. The entire flight, from launch to landing, was viewable from the ground and SpaceShipOne with its unique planform was intriguing to watch as it cut gracefully through the air and was put through its paces.

 

 

 

And if you want even further info on this please go here:

 

http://www.xprize.org/

You know what's funny, I love when I see people who say Space Flight is pointless. It's not take a look back at other expeditions that people were going into what people then thought was uninhabitable area but yet what happens if Erickson(sp) never traveled across the ocean?

 

What would happen if we never sent L @ C out?

 

Exploration of new places always needs to be taken advantage of. Even if it does not happen in our lifetime, space colonaization(sp) will happen. We just need to be the first to find out how it can be done which certainly must be done with space exploration.

or lets say that the exploration of the seas never took place.....

 

 

 

America as we know it might not exist.

 

 

 

Quit being close minded people.

Excellent point Rune.

 

 

I wish others would at least chime in with their two cents though.

Space colonies within next fifty years? I think not...

 

I'm more intrested in developing better technologies than can expand space exploration not space colonies.

that may be a little far fetched to say space colonies within 50 years...

 

 

 

But with programs like the X Project the time frame decreases....

 

 

 

Unlike the NASA shuttle....these shuttles will be much cheaper per flight and able to act pretty much like airplanes from what i have read so far.

I'd rather use that money towards bettering life here...too many problems down here...are we just going to run (or fly) awat from them? I hope not.

I hate to say this, but if you read the original article you will learn that this is a private enterprise.

 

 

All of the problems the government is facing has no effect on this 'contest'

 

 

No government funding is allowed for those participating for the X Prize.

oh, im talkin about NASA....sorry bout that

NASA is too slow and muddied with red tape these days.

 

 

The real future in space travel will come from the private sector.

well, im not gonna tell private investors what to do with their money...but I know if I was rich, I would like to think that I would be donating a lot of that to ways of bettering society...and in my opinion, space travel doesnt better society...only extends it to new regions....

 

 

I would like to think...

With the Bush administration pushing for further space travel and exploration, I think this topic holds more significance than before. Thoughts?

bring this back to the top.

 

do you that felt the way you felt last year feel the same way now?

bring this back to the top.

 

do you that felt the way you felt last year feel the same way now?

Same.

Earth ain't gonna last forever. we gotta find a way to get off this hellhole. i don't know about you guys but i already but 1000 acres of land on the moon and built a moon base, so when the bombs drop and you suckers are dying i'll be all set...

 

 

 

:happydance

Or, you just invent technology that will accomodate us as we travel in deep space.

Bush should have nothing to do with NASA....in fact there should be no NASA (and yes, I live on the Space Coast). Should be privatized, IMO.

pardon my ignorance, but i dont follow

im sure there are people who would buy into space travel...the government simply has no business getting involved in space travel except for protecting our country.

space tourism!

 

gotta be some corporation that will build a "hotel" in low earth orbit, use something that doesn't cost millions to maintain (similar to SpaceShipOne that just flew) to transport passengers.

 

you're right though tonyi... there's got to be some perceived benefit for private industry to invest in it, doesn't have to be short-term necessarily, but you'd better be able to put together one hell of a proposal for the kinds of funds we'd be talking about here...

so leave it to the government to do it! grand

and only the government is fit to deal with complicated things? They contract out companies anyway!