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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>