The X Prize is a $10 million contest created to jump-start the space tourism industry through competition between entrepreneurs and rocket experts worldwide. The cash prize will be awarded to the first team that privately finances, builds, and launches a spaceship that can carry three people to an altitude of 100 kilometers and return safely to Earth—twice within two weeks.
More than 20 teams from seven countries are registered to compete. The prize has been funded through January 1, 2005, through private donations. The X Prize was inspired by the early aviation prizes of the 20th century, such as the $25,000 Orteig prize, which was claimed by Charles Lindbergh for his pathbreaking transatlantic flight in 1927. One goal of the X Prize Foundation is to encourage development of vehicles that would lead to new industries, including space tourism, low-cost satellite launch, same-day worldwide package delivery, and rapid point-to-point passenger travel.
Among the notable contenders in the competition is U.S.-based Scaled Composites, which is developing a two-stage vehicle composed of a twin-engine carrier aircraft and a suborbital reusable launch vehicle that would be launched at an altitude of about 15 kilometers. Scaled Composites achieved a significant milestone in midDecember, 2003, when it became the first private company to achieve piloted supersonic flight without government investment.
Though not involved in the competition, Aerospace has been monitoring developments to identify technologies that might be of interest to the national security space community.
—Bob Seibold