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X-Prize Cup Site Chosen: New Mexico

Posted by timothy on from the mutton-stew-and-frybread-and-oxidizers dept.

savuporo writes "MSNBC reports: "The X Prize Foundation and the New Mexico Office of Space Commercialization are joining forces to stage the multifaceted X Prize Cup, a two-week-long event that allows for privately financed, passenger-carrying space vehicles to compete for prizes.' The first Cup is expected to be held summer, 2006, while 2005 will probably see a 'Public Spaceflight Exposition.'"

8 of 144 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Golly by AndroidCat · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Was anyone testing over Mexico in March?

    --
    One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
  2. Re:Sheesh. Why not in the United States? by SenorFluffyPants · · Score: 3, Interesting

    New Mexico Magazine has a regular feature called "One of Our Fifty is Missing". You would be amazed at how often it happens. The most frequent response from the clueless customer service rep is: "Wow, you speak the language very well!"

  3. We're the new haven for aero work by Lobo_Louie · · Score: 3, Interesting
    First we attracted Eclipse Aviation (we're developing the leading 5 place microjet for ~$1M) to Albuquerque.

    This past January the Aviation Technology Group announced they'd base the manufacturing plant for their Javelin (think $5M F18) here as well.

    Now the Xprize? Cool. We'll take it!

  4. Interesting Prize Categories by FleaPlus · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The article listed the following prize categories:
    1. Fastest turn-around time
    2. Maximum number of passengers carried in one flight
    3. Total number of passengers carried during the entire X Prize Cup event
    4. Maximum altitude attained
    5. Fastest flight time from take-off to landing

    Overall I think this is an excellent idea, but some of the prize categories seem to be... interesting choices. Take for example number 2, "Maximum number of passengers carried in one flight." I instantly have a mental image of dozens of people being packed like sardines into a spacecraft, and the horrible tragedy and PR fiasco which would occur if something went wrong. Having a category like that really doesn't seem like a hot idea.

    There's also number 5, "Fastest flight time from take-off to landing." Is this really that interesting a problem? I can't see any connection to potential commercial applications. It seems like it would be more a measure of how much acceleration the human occupants could tolerate than anything else.

  5. Re:makes sense by Zakabog · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I dunno maybe I just drove thru the wrong parts of New Mexico (kind of thru the center starting from east from texas to west into AZ) but I wouldn't consider it the most beutiful state in the U.S. I would deffinitely consider it one of the poorest (maybe even the poorest state I've been thru.) Texas is quite beutiful, so is Utah (Utah's REALLY nice) wyoming is nice, California is gorgeous (not even from cali but I've driven from lake tahoe to around death valley and from what I've seen it's a very beutiful state.) Maybe my opinion would change if I hiked the state parks rather than just drive thru their highways, but from what I've seen that's my opinion. And I'm sure Alaska is 100x more beutiful than New Mexico and all the other states in the US (I wouldn't know though since I haven't driven thru their) and I'm pretty sure it'd be even more poor. Oh and I don't think this will boost the economy much, I think they're picking new mexico because it'd be cheaper to launch (get permits and stuff like that) and it's a lot of desert so it makes a good launch site.

  6. They missed an event. by dnnrly · · Score: 2, Interesting

    What about the longest sustained flight?

    I'm guessing that the events are aimed at promoting safe transportation of people and cargo but there is not specific mention of the amount of time that a craft will be 'airborn' for. Even mach 3 on a sub-orbital flight will take a few hours to make it coast to coast. During this time the craft might launch to the proper altitude and then glide the rest of the way. The amount of time spent in powered flight affects height and speed and therefore the distance travelled.

    What if the organisers had an event where competitors have to lift a pre-determined mass to a minimum altitude and keep above there for as long as possible?

  7. Re:Sheesh. Why not in the United States? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

    ROTFL. Genius, thankyou very much. Worryingly true though.
    Here in the UK, we asked 100 americans to put a pin in a world map where they thought Iraq was. About 4 people got it right. Half of them thought it was in Europe. Then they were asked to put a pin in London. About 20 % though it was in the US. Baring in mind that these cretins had managed to catch a plane to London (where they were being interviewed) that is unbelievable.

    American fuckwads.

  8. Only option? by Natchswing · · Score: 3, Interesting
    They say that Florida was the other alternative. Being someone who builds and launches payload with NASA on a regular basis White Sands is really the only launch option for a recovered vehicle. A row of launch facilities built and ready and a large area already isolated from civilization for recovery (or cratering). I know for our recoverable payload that White Sands is really one of our only choices in the U.S.

    On top of that I live in Florida. The cape is really a turn-key operation and isn't setup to easily handle new payloads and rockets. Florida also doesn't have any large barren areas, it's either trees or swamps.

    I don't think anything but White Sands was ever really an option, although playing that Florida might be an option might be a good bargaining chip to ratchet up the price that NM pays.

    I wonder if I can schedule my next launch to coincide with this.