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Falcon-1 X-Prize Entry Nears First Flight

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the skyrockets-in-flight dept.

hpulley writes "With the X-Prize January 1, 2005 deadline looming closer, these announcements are becoming more common. The SpaceX Eagle-1 spacecraft is being readied for a possible November launch, after some static engine testing. There are plans for a larger Falcon-5 with 5 engines instead of one to be launched in 2005. At costs of around $6 and $12 million, respectively, for the launch vehicles it appears that the dream of affordable launch vehicles may finally come true. If you check the manifest you'll see they actually have three contracted and two tentative launch contracts through next year." Well, not quite affordable for everyone just yet, but not a bad pricetag for a millionaire.

17 comments

  1. It just occurred to me... by Kevin+Burtch · · Score: 1, Funny


    The wealthiest man in the world, who tries to take over any market that appears to be about to boom, has not bothered funding his own space flight project.

    Then again, he always did wait until a boom had already occurred before jumping in (like the internet, for example).

    Heh, 'sides... would anyone actually want to fly on something made by the people who bring you the BSOD?

    Maybe it was a good business-decision after-all. ;)

    --
    - Preferences: Solaris 10 (servers), Ubuntu (desktops), Solaris 11 (personal servers) -
    1. Re:It just occurred to me... by eraserewind · · Score: 5, Informative
      The wealthiest man in the world, who tries to take over any market that appears to be about to boom, has not bothered funding his own space flight project.
      You mean the wealthiest man in the world, Ingvar Kamprad, doesn't have a space program? Must be having trouble fitting the rockets into a flatpack.
    2. Re:It just occurred to me... by Hektor_Troy · · Score: 1

      If we ignore the fact, that Ingvar Kamprad gave pretty much the entire company to a foundation back in 1982 then sure - his fortune would be greater than Bill Gates. But this is reality and he doesn't have that much money now.

      --
      We do not live in the 21st century. We live in the 20 second century.
  2. Not an X-Prize Contender by Tom+Rothamel · · Score: 5, Informative

    Falcon-1 (not Eagle-1) and Falcon-5 aren't contenders for the X-Prize. The X-Prize is for a reusable manned craft to make it into space twice in two weeks. The Falcon rockets are not reusable (except potentially for the first stage), nor or they manned, and they are intended to launch satellites into orbit, not passengers into the much easier suborbital trajectory.

    The general hope is that the Falcon-series will be able to do unmanned space launch for significantly less that existing designs, both saving clients money and letting SpaceX profit.

    1. Re:Not an X-Prize Contender by FleaPlus · · Score: 1

      It should be noted though, that the Falcon V is going to be man-rated, though they haven't announced any actual capsule plans.

  3. Nothing to do with the Ansari X-Prize by zakalwe · · Score: 4, Informative

    CowboyNeal, please, why did you have involve the X-Prize in the post? The launch in November is not to try and win the X-Prize, and as far as I know they are not participating in the Ansari X-Prize at all. It's just another company getting in on putting payloads in space, and not even human payloads.

    1. Re:Nothing to do with the Ansari X-Prize by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      hpulley wrote the post, not CowboyNeal. CowboyNeal just posted it. :)

    2. Re:Nothing to do with the Ansari X-Prize by zakalwe · · Score: 1

      Doh! My bad, sorry.

    3. Re:Nothing to do with the Ansari X-Prize by hpulley · · Score: 1

      No, MY bad, REALLY! Sorry about that, everyone. I must have X-Prize on the brain...

      --
      $#!^ happens, but why does it always have to happen to me???
  4. Wrong, sort of by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Maybe Bill Gates isn't involved, but the Microsoft connection in the form of the fifth-richest man in the world, is certainly present in a big way, as the leading contender.

  5. For the love of Slashdot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Please, please don't let this misinformation hit the main page.

    Thanks.

    1. Re:For the love of Slashdot by WormholeFiend · · Score: 1

      it's ok, damage will be minimized once all the linked pages have been slashdotted out of existence.

  6. Nah, need to be a billionaire by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    for this to be cheap. A mere millionaire (somebody making a million a year) will need 6-21 years to pay for this.

    --
    SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
    1. Re:Nah, need to be a billionaire by Rick+the+Red · · Score: 2, Informative
      1) A "mere millionaire" is not someone making a million a year, it's someone who has a million. They could be unemployed and starving yet living in a house that's worth a million.

      2) A 747 costs well over a hundred million, yet I can afford to fly on one. The airlines don't make you buy the airplane before they'll give you a ticket, and I see no reason why space travel will be any different.

      --
      If all this should have a reason, we would be the last to know.
    2. Re:Nah, need to be a billionaire by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 1

      Didn't matter anyway- a later post (or was it an earlier one) revealed this to be a badly written synopsis to begin with- they ain't launching people, they're launching satelites, and they're not in competition for the Ansari X-Prize.

      I can imagine machines, which don't need life support, to be WAY easier to launch than people, and thus cost less.

      --
      SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
  7. Falcon, X-Prize and the Future by Nano2Sol · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Elon Musk the founder of SpaceX did not start this company to compete for the X-Prize and indeed the Falcon is not even competing for the prize. Instead Elon has loftier goals. After being very successful in the tech world he decided to turn his passsion into reality now that he had the money to do so. But he is a businessman first and foremost. Which means he was not about to dump money into a competition with no real business plan going forward. Instead he researched the market to try and find a niche he could enter. The low end market was needing of a cheap, reliable alternative. So he started SpaceX. To do this he needed to create 'new technology', a leap that would bring the cost down. He appears to have succeeded, we won't know until he has a successful launch. But if he does succeed then he will have brought the cost of launch down and created a market for himself.

    While not as lucrative as PayPal which he co-founded, he will have created a legitimate business in an area he is passionate about.

    What does this mean for the future? I think when all the X-Prize hype has evaporated people will pay more attention to what SpaceX has developed. Which is cheaper, partly reusable rockets. And although his rockets are not man rated, yet, anyone who knows Elon knows what he wants for the future of space exploration.