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America's Space Prize As A Followup To The X-Prize
from the next-up dept
There will be no sitting still in the private space flight business. Just as Burt Rutan received his $10 million check for winning the X Prize, another private space prize has been announced. This one, called America's Space Prize picks up where the X Prize left off. This one offers $50 million, but requires the winner to fly five crew members into space twice in sixty days, sometimes before the beginning of 2010. And, if that seems a little too easy after the X Prize, there's one more factor: the ship has to go much higher. In fact, it has to reach 400 km and then orbit twice around the Earth. In other words, this won't just be an up and down affair. The sponsoring company, Bigelow Aerospace is doing this for their own good. They want to have commercial space crafts that can jumpstart their own commercial space operations, which is why there's also a condition that any craft entering the competition has to be dockable with their own "inflatable space habitat." The company also has made it clear they have a lot more to spend on commercial space flights afterwards, noting that if the second or third place contestant has a better design, but just doesn't win the prize first, there may still be plenty of business for them.
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xPrize should still stand up
my point: xprize should smoothly move into the industry; from amateurs to professionals
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Re: xPrize should still stand up
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