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X-prize Award paid

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the faster-than-most-ebay-bidders dept.

daveywest writes "According to the AP, "SpaceShipOne designer Burt Rutan accepted the Ansari X Prize money, along with a 150-pound trophy, as a chase plane flew over the ceremony in a field adjacent to the St. Louis Science Center.""

21 of 97 comments (clear)

  1. Next task by pete_norm · · Score: 4, Funny

    Make the thing fly with the trophy in it...

  2. hey, nice check! by muntumbomoklik · · Score: 5, Funny

    Was it one of those big checks? I always wondered how you're supposed to get them in the tiny deposit envelopes.

    1. Re:hey, nice check! by Average_Joe_Sixpack · · Score: 5, Funny

      I heard it was paid in cash using several money sacks, each marked with a big green '$' sign.

    2. Re:hey, nice check! by Ayaress · · Score: 3, Informative

      I got one of those giant checks for about $10 once from a sweepsakes that I might have won $100,000 in, but didn't really read all the fine print so I'm not sure exactly. The giant check isn't the real check - they don't have any of the markings on the back, and they even say, "NON NEGOTIABLE" in non-giant print at the bottom. You get to keep that one, and buy a giant picture frame in and hang it on the wall or something. They give you a real, normal-size check to cash.

    3. Re:hey, nice check! by roman_mir · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Well, I worked for Symcor Inc for 3 years, and I can tell you that I went on tours into the check processing facilities and there are items there that pass as checks that are FAR more bizarre than just gigantic checks. ANYTHING with an account number written on it, a 'To' field, an amount and a signature qualifies as a check. I mean, thay had a bra (yes, a part of a female warderope that an average /.'er wouldn't be familiar with and most normal men wouldn't know how to handle on any first attempt) signed and it was accepted as a check.

      --
      You can't handle the truth.
  3. The next big prize by pchan- · · Score: 5, Funny

    After the Ansari X-Prize, the next big prize to watch is the Ralph Kramden Prize.

    One of these days, Alice... to the moon!

  4. Money by Paster+Of+Muppets · · Score: 5, Interesting

    As for the $10m prize, how is it all going to be split? I assume Rutan won't get to keep all of it?

    --
    Due to lack of disk space this user has been discontinued
  5. Congrats to St. Louis, Diamandis and Ansaris by Baldrson · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The folks who made this prize award real, the folks at the St. Louis Science Center, the leadership of St. Louis, Peter Diamandis and the Ansaris are real heroes in this. They deserve as much recognition as Rutan's team.

    --
    Seastead this.
  6. It's well deserved by qwave54 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    He accomplished what the X-Prize was meant for. All criticisms aside, he won the prize fair and square. I hope his team makes good use of their design in the future.

  7. This Great News by Space_Soldier · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This is great news. However, we all know that the X-Prize works based on donations. I hope that they still have money for daily operations and for future pricez. The X-CUP will require a lot more money than the X-Prize. However, I'm sure that corporations will turn the white space crafts into race cars (full with ads), which should pay for most of the expenses. The SpaceShipOne has the Virgin logo on it.

  8. We need a monument by CodeWanker · · Score: 5, Funny

    This is the kind of thing all us hard-core geeks who grew up reading the Real Heinlein (from the '40s and 50s, before he got too preachy to tell a story) have dreamed of. A lot of really good geeks have died wanting to see this day.

    Maybe a Mainframe Terminal of the Unknown Geek can be built for them. Instead of an eternal flame it could have an eternal Estes engine on it.

    --


    "Wow. Now THAT'S a lot of angry Indians." - Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer
  9. It will be split by slobber · · Score: 5, Informative

    "Paul Allen will split the $10 million prize with inventor Burt Rutan, with Rutan making payments to each of his employees who helped design, build, test, and fly SpaceShipOne.
    thestranger.com

    --
    "You mortals are so obtuse." -Q
  10. Re:Real shame by mr_snarf · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Spaceship one only cost something like $20 million. How much money do you think the Soviet Union spent on in 40+ years ago? I don't know the figures, but I'm guessing its far far more than $20 million.

    The amount of money was pretty small. Thats the point of privitization, the price goes down due to neccessity

    I hope the a similar thing to the x-prize continues. The next big thing is getting into orbit (far more difficult than the sub-orbital flight, which was still very difficult).

    The winning of the x-prize is step one. Hopefully, we'll see more progress in the years to come.

    But yeah, it is a shame this hasn't happened sooner.

    --
    printf("Goodbye cruel world!\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b");
  11. Zefram Cochrane by dapyx · · Score: 5, Funny

    Burt Rutan looks a bit like Zefram Cochrane, doesn't he? :-)

    --
    I'm sorry, the number you have dialed is an imaginary number. Please rotate your phone 90 degrees and dial again.
  12. How to spend the money? by CrazyTalk · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I'm wondering how they will spend that money - I realize their development costs were well over 10 mill in the first place, but I hope some of that goes back into new ventures.

  13. Re:The next challenge for Rutan by sketerpot · · Score: 5, Interesting

    In other words, you want to see Virgin Galactic get going.

  14. Gotta Be Orbital by DanielMarkham · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'm a huge Rutan fan, but it's gotta be orbital or bust.

    Creating a huge reverse bungee-jump looks like a hoot, but until you go orbital you are not demonstrating real economic value (over just fun).

    Perhaps the industry can survive for several years on 90-minute tourist rides, but I don't know. 1-hour delivery of packages and executives anywhere in the world will change the future.

  15. Not Rutan by senseofhistory · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Burt Rutan is a brilliant airplane designer, and SpaceShipOne is a great rocket-powered airplane (as was the X-15, in 1951), but I don't think he'll even attempt to gain Robert Bigelow's "America's Space Prize" for a 7-passenger orbiter. Orbiters are in a nearly completely different design domain than space-planes, needing about 10 times the total impulse (energy), and much more critical management of reentry-generated heat. Rutan's not a daredevil. He's cautious and thorough. Orbiters are innately more risky than space-planes. I don't think he'll be able to come up with a way to reduce the risk to something he can accept.

    1. Re:Not Rutan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      In the documentary "Black Sky: The Race for Space" on the Discovery channel, Rutan showed some designs he is working on for an orbital vehicle.

    2. Re:Not Rutan by khallow · · Score: 3, Insightful
      I don?t think he?ll be able to come up with a way to reduce the risk to something he can accept.

      I don't see this. You ignore how he worked on SpaceShipOne. Namely, he gradually worked up to the altitude. I think he can reduce the risk to aacceptible levels though incremental testing.

  16. Made a small fortune by murderlegendre · · Score: 3, Funny

    spending $25 million to make $10 million

    Q: Know how to make a small fortune in space travel?

    A: Start with a large one.. ;-)

    In all seriousness, nice going folks. You won that fair & square; hats off!

    --
    There's a Starman, waiting in the sky / He'd like to come and meet us, but he hasn't got the time.