X-prize proposed sooner

[spd405]

If the X-prize had been proposed sooner, would the technology that allowed it to have been claimed have been available? <br /><br />If not, when is the earliest it could have been announced for the winning design to have been successfully built?

 

[tap_sa]

<font color="yellow">"If not, when is the earliest it could have been announced for the winning design to have been successfully built?"</font><br /><br />Late 60s/early 70s, after NASA and the big boys had finished experimenting with everything required. X-15 did 100+km suborbital hops in 1963. Composites may have come later into the picture but they aren't absolutely necessary to build something like SS1.

 

[number2]

Another major factor, would be the Cold War.<br />Just look at Otrag, and the politics around that venture.<br />This oppertunity for the privet sector could most likley only come about within the last 15 years. As well a greater amount of technology is now available for less cost.