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X Prize Competition Gets New Sponsor, Amended Name
An anonymous reader writes "The X Prize Foundation today announced that entrepreneurs Anousheh Ansari and Amir Ansari have made a multi-million dollar contribution to the X Prize Foundation. As a result, the X Prize Competition is being renamed to the Ansari X Prize Competition." However, the X Prize rules stay the same: "The ANSARI X PRIZE will award $10 million to the first private organization to build and fly a ship that can carry three passengers 100 km (62 miles) into space, return safely to Earth and repeat the launch with the same ship within two weeks. Both flights must be completed by January 1st, 2005."
Who the hell is Ansari? And how do you spell it?
What a great way to buy one's name into the pages of history.
Did the reward get noticeably larger?
You mean, they're changing the name of the porn giveaway? Those bastards.
*blank stare*
Ooooohhhh...
The ANSARI X PRIZE will award $10 million to the first private organization to build and fly a ship that can carry three passengers 100 km (62 miles) into space, return safely to Earth and repeat the launch with the same ship within two weeks
:)
What about the passengers? Or they really do care only about the ship
Sponsors get naming rights on just about everything these days, so it's not surprising the X-Prize wasn't immune... next thing you know somebody's going to buy the rights to put ads on baseball bases.
The ANSARI X PRIZE will award $10 million to the first private organization to build and fly a ship that can carry three passengers 100 km (62 miles) into space, return safely to Earth and repeat the launch with the same ship within two weeks. Both flights must be completed by January 1st, 2005
I hope they extend the date and I also hope the prize money goes up. I think the major entrants have all spent more than $10,000.000 as it is. Still, I don't think they are doing it primarily for the money anyway.
Happy Trails!
Erick
http://www.busyweather.com/
What happens after January 1, 2005? Do they get to keep all that sweet cash?
I wonder how test flights would go. Someone tricking their little brother to "step in the SPACESHIP!"
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Never criticize religion on Slashdot. You will be modded down for "Troll" no matter how factual it is.
I notice it doesn't say what kind of passengers - wonder if mice are acceptable?
I'll just keep calling it "the X prize" until there is more than one.
You can't take the sky from me...
especially if you mock the Atheist faith.
...Like Malcolm X?
Aside from the fact that Iran is off-limits to most Americans and has been since the overthrow of the Shah, one has to wonder what the motivation of these "angels" are. The press release does not say, but it stands to reason that ownership of all advances and technologies must be turned over in part to the benefactors.
Considering how rich these guys already are, this seems like a way to squeeze more money from the public at large by garnering a monopoly on private space faring. 10 million US is a small price to pay for that much upside. Even the downside is mitigated by the fact that if a team doesn't succeed by 1/1/2005, the whole thing is called off and no money is paid out.
Call my cynical, but Iranians wanting in on rockets capable of doubling as ICBMs worry me.
I have been pwned because my
I thought they bought an insurance policy to pay the $10 mil.
I would have bet that Burt Rutan would have won the prize by January 2005.
I guess they're cobering the bases so they don't have to go out of business in January.
The organizational imperative is to survive and stay viable.
Ever dream you could fly? Get up from the Flight Sim. I Fly
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As someone already pointed out, it says that the ship has to return safely, not the passengers.
It does not specify if the passengers have to be alive or not. If you send up corpses, it is easier to keep them intact than it is to keep live passengers alive.
Mice? Does not say you can't send them instead of humans.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
At least those who do it for "publicities" sake, you can't argue that this investment is a boon to the cause.
And to risk venturing off-topic for a second,
I think Ansari X prize should consider expanding there efforts at not just the tech to get us there, but to provide a prize for the think tank that can invent a corporate (manufacturing?) incentive to go there. Basically, show practical applications in space and provide due dilligence.
Or maybe more on the mark... provide a multimilllion dollar reward for the company that can first create an operable facility in space.
Yeah... wishfull thinking, but the more efforts put towards extra-terrastial expansion the better I say.
Dwarfs and midgets have been barred from the Final Frontier. I guess it is back to the mines to look for precious precious mithril.... Oh, and Mini-Me, stop humping the laser!
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
Our Iranian-owned Carmack overlord.
X-Prize moon base?
Are you kidding? You must be. Did you that the US spent 10% of its GNP per year for 10 years to reach the moon? Sure they had to invent alot of new technology, but still the costs today would still be enormous. Flying what amounts to a modified airplane 100 miles high is one thing, travelling 250,000 miles away from earth is another.
This was an obvious joke, but I'm not sure if moderators really get it-
Ads really are going on baseball bases. Spiderman 2 has bought the rights to put some logos on baseball bases in the next few weeks.
Next thing you know, corporate sponsors will be buying insightful or funny slashdot posts.
THIS POST BROUGHT TO YOU BY MCDONALDS. WE'RE LOVIN' IT.
There are probably a lot more Arabs in the US than there are in Iran.
...the competition is now known as "Pepsi Presents the Ansari X Prize Competition"
(Why, yes, this was an obligatory Simpsons reference, thank you for noticing!)
~Philly
Thank you for your well-informed post. I also had better inform the travel agency to cancel their tour groups to Iran.
Slashdot: providing anti-social weirdos a soapbox, since 1997.
Ok, i think this can be done fairly cheaply I need:- A couple of guys to dig a really big hole. A Really Big flame proof tennis ball to hold the crew. 2 really strong trees (steel poles will suffice) 1 Big rubberband. A guy with good hand eye coordination and a big catchers mitt. Waste
shouldn't the focus be on propulsion methods first. is the traditional rocket engine efficent enough to make such frequent trips. ion drive is looking to be a promising concept
Cats might be able to survive the fall to Earth? Heh. I'll do some tests and get back to you.*
*JK! I love my cat. He could probably leap up into space. I'm not going to do any tests.
'Thats they exact same thing a banana wrench monkey.'
is can NASA take a rocket up 100 km with 3 people, take it down, and put it back up again within 2 weeks?
DADDY I'VE BEEN BAD
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Anousheh Ansari
Founder and CEO
telecom technologies, inc. (tti)
Anousheh Ansari is president, founder, and CEO of telecom technologies, inc. (tti), a supplier of softswitch based solutions for network and service providers offering end-to-end solutions for next generation, carrier-grade multi-service networks. Prior to founding tti, Ansari provided consulting services to the major telecommunications service providers and vendors in the areas of Frame Relay and ATM switch testing and evaluation.
Early in her career, Ansari held positions with MCI Telecommunications Corporation and Communication Satellite Corporation (COMSAT) in various engineering capacities. She worked on architectural design for SS7 and ISDN networks.
Ansari was recognized by Working Woman magazine as the winner of the 2000 National Entrepreneurial Excellence award, and was chosen as the winner of the 1999 Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year, Southwest Region, for the Technology and Communications category. She has authored numerous technical papers and has two patents for her work on Automated Operator Services and Wireless Service Node. She was a U.S. delegate at ITU SG VII, SG XI and SG XVII, and a representative at American National Standard Institute T1S1 and T1X1 Technical Subcommittees.
Ansari holds a Master of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering from George Washington University and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from George Mason University. She is also a member of Eta Kappa Nu, IEEE and NSPE.
Success
2000 National Entrepreneurial Excellence Award winner: Anousheh Ansari, CEO and chair of Telecom Technologies on the cover of Working Magazine (May 2000). "Anousheh Ansari once dreamed of being an astronaut while growing up in her native Tehran, Iran. Today the 33-year-old Ansari is turning upstart Telecom Technologies Inc into a force in the telecommunications industry."
Company profile for Anousheh Ansari
Can anybody find Amir's info?
Hey! In space, copyright laws don't apply (yet). You can set up a rogue state for file traders.
History is bound to repeat itself. Apparently, many of the Europeans who came to the US way back when did so to escape opressive taxes. Of course, others did it for wealth or land. Who knows, if cheap affordable spaceflight becomes a reality, the chance to create a new state from scratch will be upon us.
However, the *IAA are probably ahead of you, or will do their best to be. I had Entertainment Law this semester (had the final today) - we learned that one of the record company executives saw a shot of astronauts in space with music playing. Apparently it was MCI. Well, believe it or not, while artist contracts previously required assignment of all rights for the whole Earth, now they say for the Universe. (Can't have artists suing and reclaiming that lucrative interplanetary market!)
I'm proud to announce the Raehl X Prize. First person to drink a gallon of milk in an hour gets 10 bucks.
paintball
Does anyone else think that now, the reward might justify the cost, if maybe only in the mind of venture capitalists? I could imagine some random super scientist going to a VC firm, purposing, estimating risk, then getting such a loan, with the promise of profit for the investors.
The article doesn't mention how much they gave, but the X-Prize was originally for $10mil, and that hasn't changed. I expect that the X-Prize foundation had that money set aside, otherwise noone would have taken the competition seriously. So now they have more money, but haven't increased the prize. It would appear it must have gone somewhere.
The first to miss gets the Darwin awards.
It's all good.
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Imagine this taking hold and we could have our next 'innovation race' circa the cold war. No one can argue the cold war did wonders for technology and innovation. However, instead of having an arms race and worrying about another country blowing yours to bits, nuclear winter, fallout, cancer, etc, we can have safe competition between peers.
I think this is something we need. If necessity is the mother of invention, perhaps competition is the father. What better way to promote competition than cold hard cash?
Money for anyone who can once and for all get my X Window configuration files working.
There, now there's another X prize.
Fact: *BSD is dying
"RODDENBERRY JOINS X PRIZE ADVISORY COMMITTEE"
I see where this is heading: Gene's son joins the team so he can get close to the launch site. He climbs some scafolding just as that Alaskan sheriff is about to board the ship (Contact). Instead of blowing everything up, Gene Jr. jumps onto said Sheriff with a big bear hug and ends up on board the ship (ST:IV:TVH). They slingshot around the Sun (ibid) where they go back to October of 1955 (BTTF). They steal Doc's DeLorean, drive into the future at 88 mph to San Francisco's UFP HQ. Since money is no longer an issue, they easily win an antique British phone box off of eBay, make some slight mods, and time/space warp back to 2004 (Dr.W)
Unfortunately, at the end of this spectacular journey, Gene Jr. was mistakenly wearing a red shirt. We all know what happens to the red shirts. :-(
This one gang kept wanting me to join cause I'm pretty good with a bo staff.
As far as the organisers are concerned, I can't recall them ever posting here, but the plan after the X Prize is won by somebody (probably Rutan, at this stage) is the X Prize Cup, an annual festival/competition where teams will compete to launch their craft as high and as fast as they can.
If they are successful with that competition, I imagine that sooner or later they will propose a private orbital shot.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
--Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
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Damn! It is sad that Slashdot carries so many ethnic/racial slams. The U.S. created modern Iran-for good and ill--as a bulwark against the Soviet Union. Many fled here (the U.S.) when things went sour. If some have made money with brains, talent, and sweat, then congratulations! and thanks for giving something back! These current whiney-ass comments make we want to puke. Get a better job, or make many jobs, and become wealthy! Then you can direct the evolution of the spacefaring peoples, too.
"...while history is usually explicable it is often irrational" --Roger Spiller
The real question is, "How much could the Russians do it for"?
Maybe less, but then again, you can't put a price tag on lives and the Russian space program has killed at least 20 times as many people as the US's space program. Hell, one accident alone killed 148 people when a rocket blew up during launch.
The deadline is 7 months away and we have yet to see an actual unmanned test launch. To think that any of these groups could get a ship into space and back with people onboard within that time frame is hard to believe. I'm all for them getting there, but it seems this deadline is almost useless it inspired a lot of research and competition but how much of this is going to fizzle when no one can meet the goal set (while maintaining any margin of safety). It'd be nice to be the first private group into space, but how would you like to be remembered as the first private group to kill three guys on their way to space?
First the Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize whore themselves out, and now the X-Prize.
Just to put this into perspective, the expected financial reward for the company that wins the Joint Strike Fighter contract is $200 billion.
In Soviet Russia, rocket blows you up!
Are they having any trouble finding people to ride the prototypes into space?
I always liked that scene in Dr. Strangelove when Slim Pickins rode the nuclear bomb into oblivion...
Seriously though, I wonder what the ratio of volunteers to projects might be.
... sort of an offshoot of sealand? An independent space station - nation?
that could work......hmmmm
(Disclaimer: Like any Usenet group, we have our share of trolls, but most of them are easily identified and kill filed. In general the s.s.* groups have an extremely low tolerance for fools, idiots, and those unwilling to learn. It's a tough place to get started in, but well worth it if you are truly interested in the topic.)
"...Both flights must be completed by January 1st, 2005."
Inspired by such a generous challenge I would like to announce that I will contribute my life savings (and of coarse any change in the couch) up for grabs to the three volunteers that can go back in time (yes, a list of various times, dates, and various embarrassing events of mine that are to be altered...namely all of high school) - in addition they must find the jade monkey before the next full moon!
Some aim to please, I aim to tease.
a) Huge media attention from the beginning. It's something that's never been done before. That's essentially "free" advertising.
b) Un-editable content. While there are many ads in major league baseball already [see: the scoreboard, the stadium, etc], there are none on the field of play. If something big happens in these games, they can't edit the spiderman logo out.
c) Mention by the announcers. Something like a), except, this is going to be a big deal.
d) Regular advertising. Yeah, they'll be visible on many plays of the game.
Awe at the fact that these people (and other teams) are attempting to get 100 km, safely, and reusably. The amount of engineering and knowledge to do this isn't trivial. I have attended high-powered model rocketry events, and to see these things go up 10,000+ feet, which is well under 5 km - and these things take a lot of work and knowledge alone, to get up and back down in one piece. One rocket self-destructed in flight. I have seen video of HPMR's exploding on the pad.
I feel excitement that this is being attempted at all - and is likely to succeed at some point (all eyes point to Scaled, but you never know what may pop up in the end). It also has a good chance of failing.
I only hope that should an X-Prize contender fails, that other contestants look upon the failure as a learning experience and continue forth with their entries. I believe that all the "test-pilots" and builders of these craft would agree with me (ok, maybe I am being a little arrogant there)...
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
Just like the movie industries going west to avoid patent inforcement on movie cameras ....
hehe.......you reminded me of an old show I can't think of the name we watched it in science class in elementary... Explorer might be the name, a bunch of KIDS rocket into space with their little craft. :)
Well I for one welcome our new X-Prize overlords. /me ducks.
we get signal!
Almost correct, the Russian space program has claimed about 8-10 times as many lives as the American program. 4 Russian astronauts and about 150-160 gound crew have died, compared to the 22 dead American astronauts.
But no Russian has died in flight since 1971. They've had a better safety record than the Americans for the last two decades, belive it or not!
(Numbers from http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_disasters)
When the wealthy people start wanting to come on board with a significant amounts of money, it means the project has a good possibility of success.
Sounds to me like the FAA needs to look in to this. Now these guys will want to take lessons for a one way trip.
Where can this information be verified? How did you learn of the etymology of "X Prize"? What are your sources?
So, does this mean that the Ansari X-Prize is now fully funded?
Chip H.
Congratulations to the Anasari family and to the Iranian culture from which they derived their values. This is a noble way of handling wealth. If the Gates Foundation, not to mention Allen, Ellison, Buffet, etc. would simply change their philanthropic disbursements into prize awards for objectively measured goals, such as the X-prize, the world would be a better place for all families.
Seastead this.
The real question is, "How much could the Russians do it for"?
No, no, no. You outsource it to China and India and then buy your parts from Walmart. No wonder it takes $10m to build this thing.
It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit. -- Harry Truman
There are no posts of sci.space.* by Burt Rutan in recent years (or anyone else of scaled composites ). He is pretty tight-lipped, especially when compared to Carmack.
You will find, however, many informative posts by the one and only Henry Spencer, author of The Ten Commandments for C Programmers and possibly the most knowledgeable person in the world about the history of the U.S. space program.
Stop worrying about the risks of nuclear power and start worrying about the risks of not using nuclear power.
Quite a few St. Louis companies / folks are involved, due to the Lindbergh / Spirit of St. Louis connection, as well as the historical involvement of MacDonnell-Douglas (now part of Boeing) in the space race.
Software sucks. Open Source sucks less.
The only thing I challenged these men to do is shift from philanthropy based on someone telling them a story, aka "proposal" to philanthropy based on objectives open to all comers. Of course, fair competition is something that requires character of the philanthropist -- like a genuinely philanthropic intent as opposed to a desire to have a bunch of people schmoozing up to them with appealing "proposals".
Seastead this.