Bigelow to announce 'America's Space Prize'

[wvbraun]

From Aviation Week & Space Technology:<br /><br /><br /><i>"Bigelow Aerospace is also increasing the stakes that low-cost non-government transportation can be available to send astronaut crews to its inflatable space modules in Earth orbit by 2010.<br /><br />Company founder and millionaire Robert T. Bigelow told Aviation Week & Space Technology that he will announce as early as this week <b>a new $50-million space launch contest called America's Space Prize</b>.<br /><br />The objective is to spur development of a low-cost commercial manned orbital vehicle capable of launching 5-7 astronauts at a time to Bigelow inflatable modules by the end of the decade.<br /><br />America's Space Prize will be patterned somewhat after the X Prize that will go to the first team to demonstrate back-to-back suborbital flights.<br /><br />America's Space Prize, however, is to award five times more money than the $10-million X Prize. And if successful, the winner of America's Prize would have developed something different—the first commercial manned orbital spacecraft— which unlike the X Prize, could be used for something other than just a spectacular ride.<br /><br />The new contest also presents challenges far greater than the X Prize by requiring development of a vehicle that could maneuver to dock at well over 100 mi. altitude and survive a 17,500-mph. reentry.<br /><br />America's Prize will be set up so the winner can propose launch on an existing (even non-U.S.) booster, depending upon the entrant's spacecraft configuration.<br /><br />Bigelow is committing $25 million to the prize, and more than one additional proprietary benefactor is in final discussion with Bigelow for the other half. Potential funding partners include NASA, as a follow-up to the prize-related recommendations by the Aldridge Commission on Exploration." </i><br /><br />Link <br /><br /><br />This is incredible! What is happening? First the announcement by Ri

 

[najab]

Why call it 'America's' prize, can Canadians enter, eh?

 

[wvbraun]

Good question. But I think it's highly unlikely that only americans are allowed to enter the contest.<br /><br />Who do you think has the best shot? My bets are on SpaceX with their Falcon V rocket, they could probably send up their first astronaut around 2008/9.<br /><br />Did I already say how incredible all this is?

 

[radarredux]

> <i><font color="yellow">Why call it 'America's' prize, can Canadians enter, eh?</font>/i><br /><br />Well, Bigelow is the owner of "Budget Suites of <i><b>America</b></i> Hotel Chain", so he has a habit of throwing "America" into his names. <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /><br /><br />Also I have read that at least one other party will be putting up some of the money (NASA has been mentioned), so that group might want the "America" name in the prize.<br /><br />Side note: I have read previously that Bigelow was frustrated by <b>American</b> aerospace companies' price structures and went outside the US for a number of system components for his inflatable units. He is also hoping for launches on Russian rockets, not the typical Boeing or Lockheed rockets. So Bigelow is not a puritanical "pro American" by any means.</i>

 

[mikejz]

He does not seem to define 'reusable' very well in that statement. In theory it sounds like a capsule would do the job of winning it.

 

[wvbraun]

That's good enough. KISS.

 

[mikejz]

Personally, as i have said many times in this fourm---I see a two stage solution. with a 2nd stage/spaceplane or capsule combo lifted atop a refusblishable booster. ala SS1 onto of a Falcon V. <br /><br />Of course i don't see why developing a gemini style capsule has to cost a lot. After all SS1 was done for 20mil and does most of the stuff a capsule does w/o the duration.

 

[bobvanx]

I've invented a simple variable geometry wing that would shift from high drag, to high speed, to high lift.<br /><br />Therefore it covers all the rentry regimes, from interface to supersonic to landing. Too bad I'm not connected with anybody, so it'll never get used.<br /><br />Well then, go biconic capsule!<br /><br />And yeah, what a great week!

 

[najab]

><i>Therefore it covers all the rentry regimes, from interface to supersonic to landing.</i><p>Sounds interesting...you got any numbers you can show?</p>

 

[wvbraun]

Suppose someone actually manages to successfully launch a privately developed RLV with a crew of five or more astronauts into orbit by 2010. What effects will this have on NASA, other government space agencies around the world and the aerospace giants? Remember, NASA estimated it would cost $12-17 billion to develop the OSP, which would have had a crew of four and would have been launched on an existing ELV. It will be hugely embarrassing for the establishment, to say the least.

 

[mrmorris]

<font color="yellow">"Remember, NASA estimated it would cost $12-17 billion to develop the OSP, which would have had a crew of four and would have been launched on an existing ELV."</font><br /><br />NASA, and other government agencies have a huge hurdle to overcome any time a new space vehicle is being designed. There are <b>always</b> too many cooks in the kitchen. This results in a list of 'requirements' that extend well beyond what is truly required, and a vehicle that is overdesigned and underfunded.

 

[arobie]

This is awesome! I am so happy to hear about this! I noticed this yesterday, but I have not been able to articulate my thoughts. The XPrize did an excellent job for motivating development of suborbital craft. This prize should do the same...only for orbital craft. <br /><br />Do y'all thing Mojave Aerospace will compete for this prize? They are already planning to build an orbital craft. Why not make it able to dock and manuever and win a good sum of money for it?

 

[liquidspace2k]

The OSP is suppose to be able to fly to other worlds as well as Earth Orbit, the 'America's Space Prize' is only meant for a ship to go to Earth Orbit like the Space Shuttle, Gemini, and Mercury space crafts <br /><br />So there is still a difference between th ships, thats why the OSP would cost more, but a private company could probably make a ship like the OSP cheaper then the Government can

 

[brand1130]

"America's Space Prize" is a scam. Perhaps if they gave to 2015 it would be viable, but 6 years is not nearly enough. The X-Prize is down to its last year and only a few teams will be able to accomplish the mission before the years ends. Most groups who would be willing to participate in the prize are still occupied with the X Prize. Surely this just isn't enough time. Sorry, but face it. Perhaps this will get a few teams involved but as the deadline approaches and no one is nearly close enough, teams will drop out.

 

[bobvanx]

Scam seems a bit harsh.<br /><br />6 years? Did Robert set it to the end of this decade or "within a decade"?<br /><br />$50m does seem low, however. Even the lowest figures I've ever gathered from reputable rocket engineers has been double that to develop SSTO.<br /><br />Oh, um, I guess there's precedent, then, since Paul G. Allen spent $20m to help Burt's team compete for $10m. Therefore, a $50m prize could be right on the mark!

 

[liquidspace2k]

yeah, i meant CEV not OSP, thanx... <br /><br />I belive this prize could be won before 2010... i believe a few of the X-prize teams could really easy up grade there ships to make it to orbit, with some extra cost of course. The future prize would probably be easier to do then the X-prize, cause there would be more investors now. Most investors don't like to invest in something brand new, this prize people probably wont see as brand new but as the next step. So more people might want to jump on the Space thingy, so more money means things can be build faster and so it wont take as long as the X-prize did. Most of the X-prize contenders were looking mostly for money.

 

[thecolonel]

I thought it to be an odd choice for a name at first also. There is another reason that I haven't heard mentioned yet. The greatest sailing race in the world is titled "The America's Cup" even though many nations compete in and win it. Perhaps Bigelow was extending this concept from the ocean to the skies (from which endless extensible comparisons are always made anyway)?

 

[radarredux]

> <i><font color="yellow">The OSP is suppose to be able to fly to other worlds as well as Earth Orbit</font>/i><br /><br />In my opinion the CEV is more of motivating goal or concept of operations than a particular design. For example, one [NASA?] video had a Mars scenario that went like this:<br /><br />(1) A manned capsule flies into space.<br /><br />(2) The capsule docks at a long, cigar shaped vehicle consisting of an engine at the back end, open truss through the middle, an inflatable habitat at the front end, and the capsule docking at the very front.<br /><br />(3) The combo-vehicle launches toward Mars, and once the main engines are no longer needed, small engines at both ends of the cigar fire to set the whole vehicle rotating (imagine a rotating baton in space). This creates gravity in the inflatable habitat.<br /><br />So the cigar-shaped Mars vehicle includes an engine, truss, inflatable living area, and a capsule. The capsule is used to get the astronauts from Earth to the ship, and from the ship back to the Earth. Most of Mars space vehicle is never designed to operate in an atmosphere.<br /><br />So, what part of this would be the CEV? Just the capsule? The whole vehicle?<br /><br />By the way, it seems with a model like this, Bigelow would be in a strong position for the Mars vehicle too since he happens to build inflatable living modules.</i>

 

[radarredux]

> <i><font color="yellow">I belive this prize could be won before 2010... i believe a few of the X-prize teams could really easy up grade there ships to make it to orbit</font>/i><br /><br />Somehow I think it would be a lot tougher than this sounds. However...<br /><br />I have not seen the specifics of the America's Prize, but I have read that American, Russian, or European boosters could be used, so the resueability may not be an issue. In that case, the participants could focus on a capsule design that rides on an (upgraded to man-rated) existing booster.<br /><br />Would a commerically produced (in the US) version of the Soyuz or Klipper count?</i>

 

[slayera]

One team's design is based one the V2 rocket, so why not. The Chinesee are using a modified Russian setup. As ugly and funky looking as the Soyuz is, it is very beautifully enginered craft, and has a very proven track record. But launching something like that now commerically would still have the the same launch cost. I think that defeats the point of the contest.

 

[mrmorris]

There was an interesting thread on the XPrize forum about possible spacecraft that could win this prize. One poster suggested a variant of the Gemini capsule mounted on the Falcon V. It sounded interesting enough that I gathered some stats from Astronautix and Spacex to see if it had any plausibility. The answer... maybe?<br /><br />Since I think this site has more posters with 'hard' knowledge of the nuts & bolts. I thought I'd re=post my reply here and see what people think:<br /><br /><br /><font color="yellow">"Sev wrote: <br />The SpaceX Falcon V has a launch capacity of about 4 tonnes into low earth orbit, for a cost of $13M... <br /><br />The best precedent for a small manned re-entry capsule is the gemini capsules, launched just before the Apollo program got under way (http://www.astronautix.com/craft/gemini.htm). This weighed 2 tonnes, and could carry a crew of 2 people. It is definitely quite possible that a re-designed version, using more modern materials and equipment, could fit five people within the 4 tonne weight limit. Such a capsule would also be largely reusable. "</font><br /><br /><br />The numbers are a little tighter than what you've indicated, but possibly doable. Pulling data from Astronautix and Spacex.com: <br /><br />Gemini <br />Crew Size: 2. <br />Typical orbit: 246 km circular orbit, 30.2 deg inclination. <br />Length: 5.67 m. Maximum Diameter: 3.05 m. <br />Mass: 3,851 kg. <br />Associated Launch Vehicle: Titan 2 <br /><br /><br />Titan 2 ICBM modified for Gemini: <br />LEO Payload: 3,600 kg. Apogee: 300 km. <br />Core Diameter: 3.05 m. (10 ft) <br />Total Length: 32.80 m. <br />Mass: 150,530 kg. <br />Liftoff Thrust: 2,090.00 kN. <br /><br />Falcon V: <br />Payload: 200 km, 28 deg 4,200 kg <br />Core Diameter: 3.4 m (11 ft) <br />Total Length: 29 m. <br />Mass: 286,000 lb (129,700 kg) <br />Liftoff Thrust: 357,500 lb (1,590 kN) <br /><br /><br />The Falcon V is actually a pretty good match for the Titan 2 used to launch Gemini. It's a very similar siz

 

[najab]

><i>One poster suggested a variant of the Gemini capsule mounted on the Falcon V.</i><p>Sounds like you need Big Gemini.</p>

 

[mrmorris]

<font color="yellow">"Sounds like you need Big Gemini."</font><br /><br />Looks cool -- except it's a little <b>too</b> big. <br /><br /><i>"Total mass of the Big G would depend on the launch vehicle. The Titan 3M version would total 15,600 kg, delivering 9 crew and 2,500 kg of supplies to MOL in a 480 km, 50 degree inclination orbit. The NASA INT-20 version weighed 47,300 kg and could deliver 9 crew and 27,300 kg of payload to the same orbit. The Titan 3G configuration would have an orbital insertion mass of 59,000 kg in a 28.5 degree, 150 x 220 km orbit. "</i><br /><br />Apparently we need Middling Gemini. <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" />

 

[no_way]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>The SpaceX Falcon V has a launch capacity of about 4 tonnes into low earth orbit<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />Falcon V's has been redesigned with increased payload capacity, 6000 vs earlier 4200 kgs to LEO.<br />Gotta read Hobbyspace to stay in sync with all the important news <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" />

 

[mrmorris]

More payload.. Way cool -- even given the fact that it's "vapor payload" at the moment... <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /><br /><br />Still not enough for a 'Big Gemini', but the 'Middling Gemini' just became more doable -- and possibly acquired some cargo capability as well.