Ansari X-Prize

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SpaceShipOne [Scaled Composites] Wild Fire Mk.6 [T. Malik/SPACE.com]
Black Armadillo 48'' Test [Armadillo Aerospace]	Rubicon [Space Transport Corp.]

The Ansari X-Prize is a US$10 Million Dollar prize awarded to the first team, which:

• launches a piloted, pivately-funded spacecraft, able to carry 3 persons to 100/nbsp;km and
• returns safely to earth and
• repeats the launch with the same spacecraft within two weeks.

The X-Prize expired on January 1, 2005.

Following Teams have announced X-Prize attempts:

• Scaled Composites, LLC (SpaceShipOne):        29.09.2004 & 04.10.2004
• da Vinci Project (Wild Fire Mk.6):                     06.10.2004 (no show)

Only a few teams actually produced hardware:

• Armadillo Aerospace has test flown a subscale test vehicle of the Black Armadillo
• da Vinci Project produced a Wild Fire Mk.6 vehicle, but has not actually flown it
• Scaled Composites, LLC built the SpaceShipOne and has conducted three successful manned flights into space
• Space Transport Corp. has built a Rubicon rocket with reduced propulsion, which failed during launch.

The two successful flights of SpaceShipOne finally won the Ansari X-prize.

Purpose of the X Prize

The purpose of the X PRIZE is to promote the development and flight of spaceships able to provide low-cost commercial transport of humans into space. The most important rules are:

1. As a condition of entering and becoming a participant in the X PRIZE Competition, entrants will be required to first agree to be bound and abide by the rules, decisions and interpretations which will be further promulgated by the X PRIZE Rules Committee and its designated representatives. Entrants will also be required to agree to fully cooperate with the X PRIZE Review Board in monitoring X PRIZE entrants and competition requirements.
    
2. Flight vehicles will have to be privately financed and built. Entrants will be precluded from using a launch vehicle substantially developed under a government contract or grant. Entrants will be prohibited from receiving any direct funding, subsidies, and grants of money, goods, or services from any government (or otherwise tax-supported entity). Entrants will be permitted to utilize government facilities if access to such facilities is generally available to all entrants. Any such goods or services used in connection with the competition must be available to other entrants on similar terms. Entrants will be permitted to utilize subsystems previously developed by a government agency that are currently available on a commercial or equal-access government-surplus basis, or for which manufacturing rights and specifications are available on an equal-access basis.
    
3. The flight vehicle must be flown twice within a 14-day period. Each flight must carry at least one person, to minimum altitude of 100 km (62 miles). The flight vehicle must be built with the capacity (weight and volume) to carry a minimum of 3 adults of height 188 cm (6 feet 2 inches) and weight 90 kg (198 pounds) each. Three people of this size or larger must be able to enter, occupy, and be fastened into the flight vehicle on Earth's surface prior to take-off, and equivalent ballast must be carried in-flight if the number of persons on-board during flight is less than 3 persons.
    
4. The second flight must demonstrate economical vehicle reusability. It is the X PRIZE Rules Committee's intent that the winning flight vehicle should exhibit sufficiently low per-flight costs such that the flight vehicle will support low-cost space access. Toward this end, no more than 10% of the flight vehicle's first-flight non-propellant mass may be replaced between the two flights.
    
5. The crew must return to the Earth's surface from both flights in good health as reasonably defined and judged by the X PRIZE Review Board. The flight vehicle must return from both flights substantially intact, as defined by and in the sole judgment of the X PRIZE Review Board, such that the vehicle is reusable.
    
6. Entrants must specify and provide the X PRIZE Rules Committee with their take-off and landing location, and the date of their launch, not less than 30 days prior to any flight attempt.
    
7. The X PRIZE Competition is international in nature and is open to all qualifying entrants who agree to be bound and abide by the rules which shall be further promulgated by the X PRIZE Rules Committee and administered by the X PRIZE Review Board.

X-Prize Website: www.xprize.org

Source: X-Prize Website