http://www.xprize.org/

heath

Yeah, I've heard of it. The first team to launch a space ship carrying 400 lb. of weight into the startosphere twice - that is, the first team to successfully build and launch a commercial space craft - wins $10 million dollars.

The contest has been going on for two years now, with the deadline coming up (January 1). I've checked in on it from time to time, but until now, as the deadline approaches, nothing has happened with it.

Funny thing is, the team that is closest to winning has already spent $20-30 million dollars. Course, it's more about prestige at this point. And imagine the liscense rights to the design could be worth billions, if some venture capitalist comes up with a good way to put the average joe into space (I discount Virgin Galactica right away. Like most of Branson's brilliant ideas, it's a rip-off to consumers).

They launched today. Thanks to Rob Lohman for pointing it out to me!

heath

Another multi-millionaire has already announced that he will award $50 million (http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/bigelow_spaceprize_040927.html) to the first privately build orbiting spacecraft, which is quite a bit more than the $10 million SpaceShipOne is going for. Of course, that ship will probably cost quite a bit more too. Although, Joshua makes a good point that, for now, its more about prestige than money. The winner will aquire a lot of respect, which will soon lead to money.

I saw the launch on the webcast today. Very cool indeed. Thought he was in trouble when the craft began to spin. I almost got ill just watching.

I own an experimental plane, and have been aware of Rutan's huge contributions to our industry for some time. But, this is seriously cool! Sorry, that was the
4-year-old-"I-wanna-be-an-astronaut" coming out in me. I guess there's time though. The pilot was 63- and I have at least another 20 years to go before that.

Yehaaw.

Jeff P.

If you did not know, this was the second time the craft made it to space. The first time, they had some 'issues' and did not do the second flight. The improved craft has 20% more thrust. I suspect that they could have gone for more altitude if they did not pick up that bit of uncontrolled flight.

I liked the Art Scholl moment at 15,000 feet. I looked over to see the space craft doing a victory roll.

So all went well then? I missed the launch (grrr) on the webcast
and they must now repeat the feat in 2 weeks to get the money,
right?

Yep. The plan is to launch Monday morning, which is a pretty fast turn around if you ask me. If that goes well, then SpaceShipOne will win the $10 million.

The video from the cockpit during the roll at the top of the trajectory was incredible.

And, like Jeff (in my best 4 yr old whine) I wanna go! My wife looked at me last night when they said the projected price per seat was 200,000+, smiled, and told me a kidney wasn't going to be enough ;)

It does give hope to those of us who have wanted to go into space all our lives though.

Will

My condo cost less than that and my next film will cost less than that. For my ride into space, I'll hit that new Mission: Space (http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/parks/attractionDetail?id=MissionSPACEAttractionPage) over at Epcot Center (http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/parks/parkLanding?id=EPLandingPage) at Disney Orlando! <g>

heath

Yeah, even looking around at the room full of equipment I've got here I can't quite see spending that kind of money for a ride.

It does make me want to dig out my Heinlein books and reminesce. Who'd a thunk that the SF stories that fired up my youthful imagination would be so tantalizingly close to the reality of my "adult" life. I can't wait for the next flight on Monday!

Bump, running again today.

Looks like the prize has finally been won - by the design funded by ex-Microsoft billionaire philanthropist Paul Allen.

This is very exciting news for the privatization of the space industry. It's the only way we're going to ever get anywhere in the space program. If we leave it all up to Nasa and thus Congressional approval, we'll perhaps make it back to the moon in 2450 AD.

Watched the webcast live again today. Damn, do we live in a great country, at an exciting time. My little Fly Baby has only been up to 4500 feet. 368 thousand is rare air indeed.
Im going to buy the Estes rocket and say its for my kid.

Jeff P

what's the difference between this and john carmack's pet project?

I might be wrong, but I think John Carmack's project was to ultimately create something that could be viable for the XPrize, mentioned above. Not sure, but memory seems to tell me that.

EDIT - I just checked and it looks like yes indeed, he was one of the entrants in the XPrize contest.

I had massive problems watching the webcast, but saw the
drop and ignition of the engine at least. Great stuff! Sign me up!

Neato - don't know how much longer they'll have this up, but on this topic, check out Google's home page...

http://www.google.com/

I see nothing special there (anymore?)

Weird, I still see it - they've switched out their standard google logo for a new one with the SpaceShipOne and a little flying saucer with aliens in it. Kind of like how they do on holidays and during the olympics. Perhaps this is regional depending on the nation you're viewing from.

Can you take a screenshot for me and e-mail it to me? (or save
the picture directly and mail me that). Would be great.

ALl this is great, and as a sailplane pilot, I am really excited. But I would like to point out, that there is a non-commercial aircraft that has been reaching "astronaut" altitudes for decades.

The blackbird.

They still won't officially state what it's ceiling is, but the pilots do get astronaut wings. Same as shuttle pilots.

Richard - the point of the XPrize isn't to be the first spacecraft of its kind, but rather to be the first privately made spacecraft of its kind. Government or military made devices would defeat the purpose of this competition, which is essentially to promote privatized space travel.

To quote from the site: "The ANSARI X PRIZE is a $10,000,000 prize to jumpstart the space tourism industry through competition..."

Rob, here you go:
http://www.theseventhlevel.net/images/GoogleXPrize.gif

Thanks Imran!