The 2007 X-Prize Cup: Debrief

[PistolPete]

This is how the future will begin!<br />This is how the future will begin!<br />This is how the future will begin!<br /><br />Not with a billion dollar government contract, but in someone's garage!<br /><br /><br /><br />I remember about 10 years ago when Newspace was just beginning, there was a made for TV move called <i>Pirates of Silicon Valley</i>. What fascinated me about the film was the fact that Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak built the first Apple I computers in Wozniak's parent's garage with part from Radio Shack. Bill Gates started out writing an operating system for one of world's first personal computers: the Altair 8800, and later went on to sell DOS to IBM for buku bucks.<br /><br />The point is that theses giants of the computer industry started out from humble beginnings, working with what they had and built what they could. At the time this movie came out there were many hopefuls, such as Kistler, Pioneer Rocketplane, Kelly Space & Technology, and Rotary Rocket, trying to break down the door to space for everyone. "Give us just $100 million and we can do it." they would ask as I banged my head against the wall in frustration. Of course they would never be given $100 million by the likes of Gates or Jobs. Those two guys started with nothing but these guys were trying to do something like build an iPod or write Widows Vista when all they could afford were parts from Radio Shack. Gates and Jobs are shrewd businessmen and they know a bad business plan when they see one.<br /><br />A decade has passed since the inevitable demise of the first generation of Newspace companies. They left in their wake millions of dollars in development money wasted, some flashy Powerpoint presentations, and some nice looking websites. Yet hope for what these companies originally promised is here and I witnessed it at the X-Prize Cup.<br /><br />One of the fist things that stunned me about the competitors for the Cup was that none of them were large corporations. In fact, you <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><em>So, again we are defeated. This victory belongs to the farmers, not us.</em></p><p><strong>-Kambei Shimada from the movie Seven Samurai</strong></p> </div>

 

[PistolPete]

Here are some pictures that I took from the X-Prize Cup. More to follow<br /><br />The Dragon Capsule<br /><br />A closeup of the hatch<br /><br />A look inside the capsule at the hatch for the Common Berthing Mechanism<br /><br />A look at the bottom of the capsule. As you can see it is empty. Looking at some of the pictures on a standee next to the Dragon, I am guessing that this is a structural test article used for splashdown tests.<br /><br />A mockup of the Starchaser rocket<br /><br />Starchaser in the travel position<br /><br />The famous Pixel. All dressed up with no place to go.<br /><br />The modular rocket. No place else but the X-Prize Cup can you scarf on a slice of pepperoni pizza within arms reach of a rocket 45 minutes before launch.<br /><br />A closeup of the equipment on the Armadillo truck<br /><br />One of Armadillo's engines on display<br /><br />John yaking it up with his adoring fans<br /><br />http://i28.photo</safety_wrapper <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><em>So, again we are defeated. This victory belongs to the farmers, not us.</em></p><p><strong>-Kambei Shimada from the movie Seven Samurai</strong></p> </div>

 

[keermalec]

Awesome photos PP, thanks for the coverage. I sadly missed out on the event, thought I had the trip planned out: work work work...<br /><br />I am always amazed at the difference between engines seen at the Xprize and engines designed by the big players. Armadillo and Unreasonable Rocket dont seem to think nozzles are necessary? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>“An error does not become a mistake until you refuse to correct it.” John F. Kennedy</em></p> </div>

 

[PistolPete]

Well, they still use rocket nozzles, they just build the engines a bit differently. Below is a picture of one of the engines disassembled.<br /><br />LINK<br /><br />The dark gray cylinder laying on its side is the nozzle. The nozzle shape is milled out of a solid cylinder of ablative material. This allows them to rapidly prototype different nozzle shapes. Unfortunately, it may have also led to one of the engine malfunctions that they experienced. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><em>So, again we are defeated. This victory belongs to the farmers, not us.</em></p><p><strong>-Kambei Shimada from the movie Seven Samurai</strong></p> </div>

 

[holmec]

Thanks for the debrief PP.<br /><br />I wish I could have gone. <br /><br />Correction: AWESOME debreif! <img src="/images/icons/laugh.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#0000ff"><em>"SCE to AUX" - John Aaron, curiosity pays off</em></font></p> </div>

 

[no_way]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>No fiberglass and wood mockups, no flashy Powerpoint presentations, just real rockets! <p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br />Not entirely <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> i saw a couple inflatable rocket models .. cough .. and there were a couple mockups on display as well, like SS1, Dragon and the Rocket Racer. All for good reason of course.<br /><br />What i liked about the Cup most was that you could easily approach any exhibitor, ask any stupid questions you want and really get to know the people there. Everybody was very friendly.<br />If the event gets any bigger with more public this is probably going to change somewhat.<br /><br />But honestly, i thought the space side of things was kind of small. Once Rocket Racing League gets going, and Google lunar prize picks up some entrants, maybe things will get more interesting there.

 

[no_way]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>SpeedUp's rocket. I believe that this was powered by a monopropellant<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br />Hydrogen peroxide, 90% grade. Nitrogen pressurant. Fixed engine with three jet vanes. They said they have no peroxide supply problems as Armadillo had, one of their sponsors is Swedish company producing and supplying peroxide to them. Long lead times, but they can work with it.<br /><br />They also said that they are really focussing on bagging Level 1 only, they arent even considering Level 2 not to dilute efforts.<br />The entire effort has costed about $350K so far from them, i dont know if that included sponsor items or not ( they had some good sponsors donating racing shocks for the legs, some electronics etc. )

 

[l3p3r]

This is a great insight into the event, thank you! <br /><br />I'm sure I'll eventually make it to many of these! But for now... uni exams <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> (And living in Australia also makes attending difficult!) <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>