FOUR
NEW TEAMS ENTER $10 MILLION X PRIZE
Twenty-four
Teams from Six Countries now Registered in Private 'Race to
Space'
St.
Louis, MO (January 27, 2003)
– Four new teams, the first Israeli team and three new American teams, have
registered with the X PRIZE Foundation to compete for the $10M "X PRIZE."
This brings the total number of X PRIZE entrants to 24 teams from seven countries:
Argentina, Canada, Israel, Romania, Russia, UK, United States.
To win the X PRIZE, teams must privately finance, build and fly a three-person
spacecraft 100 km (62 miles) to the edge of space, return safely, and then
demonstrate the reusability of their vehicle by flying it again within two-weeks.
A winner of the X PRIZE is expected within the next 12-24 months. The goal
of the X PRIZE is to make space travel frequent and affordable for the general
public.
The X PRIZE competition, the first-ever space-based incentive competition,
follows in the footsteps of more than 100 aviation incentive prizes offered
in the early 20th Century, that created today's $300 billion-dollar commercial
air transport industry. The most significant of these prizes was the Orteig
Prize, won by Charles Lindbergh for his 1927 flight from New York to Paris.
"Today, there are fewer than 20 commercial launches into space each year and
none are manned. The public tourism market can drive the launch industry by
providing the demand for thousands of launches for adventurers who desire
to fulfill their dreams. Such a high market demand offers the opportunity
to change the paradigm of space travel and create a truly commercial industry,"
said Founder and Chairman Dr. Peter Diamandis.
“We hope the X PRIZE will do for space travel what the
Personal Computer did for the computer industry in the 1980's. Instead of
having to spend $20M to go to orbit, we believe the first private sub-orbital
tickets to space will cost less than $100,000/person. Flights aboard X PRIZE-class
ships could eventually drop to below $30,000 per ticket.”
Each of the 24 X PRIZE teams has approached private spaceflight with a different
solution. Entrants include a “traditional” six-story high rocket-powered vertical
takeoff ship, to a rocket-powered ‘glider’ that ignites its engines after
being towed to 40,000 feet by a Boeing 747. One team’s spaceship will take
off from the water, and another’s will use a reusable balloon as its first
stage.
New X PRIZE Team Profiles
American Astronautics Corporation
Ship
Name:
The Spirit of Liberty
Team Leader: Bill Sprague
Nation: USA – Oceanside, California
Launch: Vertical launch from coastal regions; Landing: Parachute
descent into water
Web: www.americanastronautics.com/Projects/X-Prize
The American Astronautics Corp. was created by a group of seasoned space professionals,
specifically Robert Truax and Bill Sprague. Truax is known as one of the
founders of modern rocketry and the designer of Evel Knievel's Rocket vehicle.
Truax and Sprague are experienced designers and builders of simple, pressure
fed, reusable space launch vehicles which follow the Minimum-Cost-To-Flight
philosophy. The Spirit of Liberty is the logical next step leading from the
X-3 (also known as the Sea Horse or the Volksrocket), designed by Robert Truax
in the mid-1960s to take a single person to an altitude of 100 km, to the
currently in-work commercial space tourism vehicle designed by Sprague, capable
of carrying 30 passengers. The Spirit of Liberty will weigh about 10,000 pounds
and have an engine producing some 20,000 pounds of thrust. The rocket is 3
feet in diameter and 42 feet long.
IL Aerospace Technologies (ILAT)
Ship
Name:
Negev 5
Team Leader: Dov Chartarifsky
Nation: Israel – Zichon Ya’akov
Launch: Air Launch from Balloon; Landing: Parachute
Web: www.ilat.com
IL Aerospace Technologies (ILAT) is the X PRIZE's first Israeli team.
ILAT was founded with the principle objective of developing a reusable and
cost effective technology aimed at transforming space tourism into a reality
and expanding the human desire for space exploration. At present, the ILAT
team is comprised of five original team members with a combined disciplinary
experience in physics, mechanics, aeronautics and material science. All team
members are veterans of the Israeli Armed Forces and have worked for leading
aerospace companies in Israel and abroad. The ILAT team will continue to
expand by welcoming additional professionals as well as sponsors, students
and volunteers from all walks of life that share the same team vision.
Interorbital Systems (IOS)
Ship Name: Solaris X
Team
Leader: Roderick and Randa Milliron
Nation: USA – Mojave, California
Launch: Vertical; Landing: Horizontal
Web: www.interorbital.com
Interorbital Systems (IOS), is the first X PRIZE Team run by a women, and
featuring a female pilot. IOS was founded in 1996, as a privately funded
aerospace corporation based in Mojave, California. The company develops, manufactures,
and tests liquid rocket engines, space launch vehicles, and spacecraft. In
addition, IOS provides end-to-end space launch services for its own vehicles.
IOS is presently engaged in the development of its Neptune-Solaris Orbital
Spaceliner, a two-stage manned orbital launch vehicle. The orbiter stage in
this configuration, the Solaris X rocket plane, is the company’s X PRIZE entry.
Solaris X will become the flagship of IOS’ future suborbital space tourism
operations. The Interorbital Systems team possesses a broad cross-industry
experience base, ranging from the academic disciplines of design, simulation,
and analysis, to the hands-on skills of rocket prototyping, construction,
and launch.
Micro-Space, Inc.
Ship Name:
Crusader X
Team Leader: Richard Speck
Nation: USA – Denver, Colorado
Launch: Rocket Powered Vertical Takeoff; Landing: Parachute
Recovery
Web: www.micro-space.com
Motivated individuals will find a ride in the Crusader X, the X PRIZE entry
of Micro-Space, comparable to extreme adventure travel or research diving.
The most critical flight step will be donning, sealing and testing the Personal
Life Support unit with backup parachute, communications, and GPS gear. The
Crusader X uses a lightweight core frame with seats and windshield resembling
a bobsled or undersea sled. Propulsion modules are strapped onto the sides
which are retained for the entire flight. Life support equipment is worn by
the crew. The core holds the attitude control jets, tiny flight controller,
and parachute packages.
# # #
NOTE TO
EDITORS
Electronic
images of the four new teams and all of the X PRIZE entries are available on
the X PRIZE website (www.xprize.org) or by contacting Ian Murphy at
202-662-1280 or via email: press@xprize.org. Video
B-ROLL is available in beta format upon request. Interviews with Dr.
Diamandis or the teams are possible by contacting Ian Murphy at
202-662-1280. This document is
also attached.