X-Prize Cup

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Swampcat

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<font color="orange"><b>X Prize evolves into annual competition</b><br /><br />Organizers hoping for 'grand prix of space'<br /><br />Tuesday, October 5, 2004 Posted: 10:14 AM EDT (1414 GMT)<br /><br />MOJAVE, California (AP) -- Hoping to build on the momentum sparked by a private rocket plane's dash into space, supporters of opening the heavens to civilians are turning the winner-take-all race into an annual competition that might further fuel imaginations.</font><br /><br />More...<br /><br /><font color="yellow">"The first X Prize Cup will be held in 2005-06..."</font><br /><br />This seems overly ambitious. Currently, there is only one team with demonstrated ability to reach space. Will Mojave Aerospace Ventures be willing to spend the money to participate in this competition? Just how many teams could be ready to participate?<br /><br />The article mentions flying passengers. Will there be enough customers there willing and able to pay for what could be an expensive seat? Will they get free rides just for the sake of the competition? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="3" color="#ff9900"><p><font size="1" color="#993300"><strong><em>------------------------------------------------------------------- </em></strong></font></p><p><font size="1" color="#993300"><strong><em>"I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical. Unsuccessful rebellions, indeed, generally establish the encroachments on the rights of the people which have produced them. An observation of this truth should render honest republican governors so mild in their punishment of rebellions as not to discourage them too much. It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government."</em></strong></font></p><p><font size="1" color="#993300"><strong>Thomas Jefferson</strong></font></p></font> </div>
 
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robotical

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Considering that Scaled will be using SpaceShipOne for testing and then want to place it in the Smithsonian, I'm not sure they will even have vehicle. They won't have any other vehicles for several years yet and, since those will be going to Virgin, I doubt they will be able to even participate with those. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>
 
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Swampcat

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<font color="yellow">" Airshows staggered along for 50 years until the International Council of Airshows was formed."</font><br /><br />Good points, newsartist.<br /><br />I did a little googling and discovered that the first air show was organized in 1909 in Reims, France. This was, of course, 6 years after the Wright Flyer's first flight. Twenty-two aviators competed in the event which attracted between 300,000 and 500,000 people. Notably, the Wright Brothers did not participate.<br /><br />There were 3 air shows held in the US in 1910. The Wright Brothers participated in one of these.<br /><br />It's likely that shows similar to the intentions of the X-Prize Cup could, in a few years, draw both participants and spectators. I just don't think it's going to happen until there are a few more groups with actual working vehicles. Maybe by the time SpaceSpaceTwo is flying there will be a few more possible participants. Of course, as you said, any event that could get all these groups together, even if it were only to show off their vehicles, mock-up or otherwise, would likely draw people. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="3" color="#ff9900"><p><font size="1" color="#993300"><strong><em>------------------------------------------------------------------- </em></strong></font></p><p><font size="1" color="#993300"><strong><em>"I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical. Unsuccessful rebellions, indeed, generally establish the encroachments on the rights of the people which have produced them. An observation of this truth should render honest republican governors so mild in their punishment of rebellions as not to discourage them too much. It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government."</em></strong></font></p><p><font size="1" color="#993300"><strong>Thomas Jefferson</strong></font></p></font> </div>
 
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Swampcat

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<font color="orange"><b>Space Race 2: After The X Prize</b><br /><br />The $10 million X Prize has been won, but the next space race, worth an estimated $1 billion a year, is just beginning.<br /><br />For now, Virgin Galactic, a U.S. offshoot of entrepreneur Richard Branson's Virgin Group in the United Kingdom, is the most visible of the half-dozen or so companies developing plans and vehicles to fly tourists to space.<br /><br />Branson licensed the X Prize winner, Mojave Aerospace Ventures of Mojave, Calif., to develop a fleet of five sub-orbital spaceships to ferry passengers beyond Earth's atmosphere. The first flight is scheduled for 2007.<br /><br />Nipping at Branson's heels, however, are a handful of X Prize contenders and other firms that are designing and testing vehicles to travel to the edge of space and back. To make sure the fruits of the X Prize competition continue to blossom, the foundation that set up the private space race plans an annual showcase of sub-orbital spaceflights called the X Prize Cup.</font><br /><br />More... <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="3" color="#ff9900"><p><font size="1" color="#993300"><strong><em>------------------------------------------------------------------- </em></strong></font></p><p><font size="1" color="#993300"><strong><em>"I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical. Unsuccessful rebellions, indeed, generally establish the encroachments on the rights of the people which have produced them. An observation of this truth should render honest republican governors so mild in their punishment of rebellions as not to discourage them too much. It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government."</em></strong></font></p><p><font size="1" color="#993300"><strong>Thomas Jefferson</strong></font></p></font> </div>
 
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kdavis007

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I would like to know how would someone sign up to compete in the X-Prize Cup?
 
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