Masten Space Systems successfully flew their Xombie vehicle today, completing two flights and meeting the Level 1 requirements of the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge.
Masten had a previous attempt on September 16, 2009, but did not complete the second flight due to engine damage. Masten went back to their workshop and solved the engine problem, tested it over the last several weeks and today flew an aluminum engine, making this the first known flight of such an engine on a reusable launch vehicle (Armadillo Aerospace also flew a aluminum engine for their September 12, 2009 flight, although also utilized a graphite liner).
Amidst chants of "Fly Xombie, fly!", the first flight lasted about 93 seconds and the vehicle landed ~20 cm from the center of the pad; almost a perfect repeat of their first NGLLC flight. The second flight lasted 91 seconds and the vehicle landed 11 cm from the center of the pad -- an impressive feat indeed (all numbers preliminary until judges declare them official).
We congratulate the Masten Team for their great success today and wish them luck as they prepare their second vehicle, Xoie, for the Level 2 attempt on October 28 - 29. Photos are posted on Picasa, and we'll post video as soon as we have it in the next day or two.
Also stay tuned for Team BonNovA on Oct. 26-27 and Team Unreasonable Rocket on Oct. 30-31 -- this competition is still far from over!
UPDATE: Videos are posted!
Video of Oct. 7th Masten Flights 1 & 2 (credit: X PRIZE Foundation):
Leg 1: Downward Facing Camera on vehicle. Great view, and turn up volume for the full effect. Video credit: Masten Space Systems.
Want more? Additional Masten vehicle views are available here!
Beam Power/Climber Competition
LASER '09 - The Space Elevator Blog has some information about a LEGO student competition in Japan with a Space Elevator theme.
@lasermotive - One of the activites today, hanging telescope mirror 15 feet in air from something that looks like field goal posts. Always interesting.
The field goalpost telescope worked reasonably well today. But maybe one day Tom can stop being the high-altitude monkey...
Regolith Excavation Challenge
@paulsrobotics - This what you look like after sifting 1000lbs of rock out of 5000lbs of sand... http://yfrog.com/0f852sj
Starting a sandbox run with Moonraker. Watch at http://bit.ly/dfTRc (Broadcasting live at http://ustre.am/54fd)
@grncheese - The hitch is installed on the minivan, one step closer to hauling BESSie over the Rockies to California
@glxp - Regolith Challenge at Ames!!! Oct. 17 and 18 http://www.nasa.gov/centers... (via @NLSI)
Google Lunar X PRIZE
@interorbital - Interorbital Signs Launch Deal with Morehead State University and Bob Twiggs!http://www.moreheadstate.edu/news/release.aspx?id=49994
@omegaenvoy - Take 3 minutes out of your day and go vote for the name of the next robot to go to the moon, it's worth it, I promise! http://bit.ly/F2NYq
@soldthemoon - During the G-20 here in Pittsburgh, leaders from China and Australia came by to see our lunar robots: http://tinyurl.com/ybsd36z
Student Competitions
@glxp - Do you know a teacher? The Conrad Awards is hosting an "Innovation in the Classroom" webinar 10/6, 3pm PST: http://bit.ly/gqS2X
CanSat Arcus (part 1) - YouTube
CanSat Arcus (part 2) - YouTube
NASA Sponsors Student Water Recycling Competition - NASA
Buzz Lightyear returns from space - Space for All - This includes the Buzz Lightyear Mission Patch Design Challenge
Other
DIGITALGLOBE NAMED EARTH OBSERVATION OPERATOR OF THE YEAR BY INTERNATIONAL FIRM - Space 2.0 Blog
WINNING SITES ON THE SCIENTIFIC WEB - Cosmic Log
Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 2847 -- Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010 (NASA excerpt) - SpaceRef:
... The Administration is concerned with the elimination of $21 million from the request for NASA innovation, which uses public-private partnerships to advance important technologies and enable access to new sources of innovation through incentive prizes and partnerships. ...
Here are some recent updates on the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge from RLV News/HobbySpace:
BonNova enters Lunar Lander Challenge competition
Unreasonable update (Testing Again...)
Unreasonable update (Driving Home Again...)
Xombie flies again
Masten Space test flights
Suborbital space transport will produce research bonanza - This isn't about the Challenge itself, but it's relevant to the teams interested in this market.
Unreasonable test report
Unreasonable tests
There's more news from other sources:
In its September 13 2009 post, TrueZer0 offers some criticism of the coverage of this year's Lunar Lander Challenge events.
Suborbital Research - Masten Space Systems comments on the suborbital research article linked on one of the above posts.
@wikkit - The Pauls (of #ngllc team @unrocket) stopped by. We showed our dead chamber, they showed us their dead gear, we all commiserated.
@ngllc09 - Masten's next attempt is in 2 days (10/7). Who's excited? #NGLLC
Live in or near Los Angeles, CA? Looking for a fun activity tonight that has a lot of "Burt Rutan" and not so much "Brett Favre"? Come join members of the X PRIZE Foundation's space team, along with many other friends and space fans, for a night of new connections, nostalgia, and adult beverages. We'll be celebrating the 5th anniversary of the winning of the Ansari X PRIZE, the 52nd anniversary of the launch of Sputnik, and the beginning of World Space Week. We will also, I assure you, be raising a toast to wish good luck to the wonderful people working on Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge teams (including team Masten--who will by flying again on Wednesday!) and the LCROSS mission.
We've chosen a location in Santa Monica, the long-time home of the X PRIZE Foundation. We'll be meeting at theFifth Amendment Alehaus, a new venue that features 20+ different beers on tap. The Fifth Amendment managers must be big space fans, because they'll be offering $3 Happy Hour specials all evening (What's that you say? They do that every Monday?)
Fifth Amendment is located at 129 Broadway, Santa Monica, CA 90401. There is parking in the nearby public garages (there is one on 4th and Broadway, and another on 2nd St). If you park after 6pm, there is a $3 flat rate.
If you are feeling ambitious, you can try to find the "phantom X PRIZE office" only a few blocks away.
The gathering will start around 7pm, and will end around 10pm local time [By special request, those times in UTC are 02:00 through 05:00 on Tuesday, October 6]. Please feel free to stop by for some or all of it!
We hope to see you there! For those of you on Facebook, feel free to RSVP for the event there.
By Peter H. Diamandis, X PRIZE Foundation Chairman & CEO
Today, October 4th, is the 5 year anniversary of the winning of the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE for spaceflight. The most important legacy and meaning of the Ansari X PRIZE on its 5 year anniversary lies in the fact that the event kicked off a new industry. In the same way that Lindbergh’s flight across the Atlantic in 1927 is seen as an inception point for today’s $300 Billion Aviation industry, I’m extremely proud that the Ansari X PRIZE has created a new personal spaceflight industry. Not only did these historic flights culminate in a beautiful exhibition in the Smithsonian, at the entrance to the National Air & Space Museum, but much more profoundly, the winning flights by SpaceShipOne kicked off the personal spaceflight industry which has had over $1Billion invested in it during the past 5-years.
On this day, I’m taking the liberty to reflect on key questions I’ve been asked over the years…
Ultimately what was the real value of the Competition?
I often think about the real value that the Ansari X PRIZE contributed to this field of spaceflight which I love so much. I think ultimately it gave teams around the world permission to dream, to assemble teams and dare to think about building private spaceships. By creating the structure of the competition, it validated the importance and the viability of private spaceflight. It defined a ‘clear goal’… or a meaningful finish line that teams could pursue. As my friend and early X PRIZE founder Astronaut Byron Lichtenberg is fond of say, “without a target you will miss it every time!” We gave space dreams and entrepreneurs a target to shoot for.
Before the X PRIZE there really wasn’t a generally accepted definition of where space begins… there was always three numbers thrown about, namely 50 kilometers, 100 kilometers and 162 kilometers (100 miles). In retrospect, I’m pleased that we picked 100 km, because it was “just hard enough”… and if we had chosen 100 miles (162 km) we might not be celebrating this 5 year anniversary!
The competition also created the public excitement, expectations, rooting interests and ultimately future customers who were lining up to buy a seat on these Ansari X PRIZE-class of spaceships.
I also feel that we played an important role in driving the regulatory policy that today allows private, reusable, piloted spaceships to carry paying passengers. Only a year before the prize was won, the rules were not defined and there was no clear way for such a ship to be licensed to fly. We worked closely with FAA Administrator Marion Blakey and Associate Administrator Patricia Smith to get the rules in place. Rutan had threatened many times to take his ship out of the country (I think he bluffed that he would launch from Mexico) if needed to fly since the US obviously didn’t (yet) allow these types of flights. Remind me never to play poker against Burt!
Would this have happened anyway?
I have no doubt that eventually someone would have flown privately to space, just like someone would have flown across the Atlantic (in the case of the Orteig Prize and Lindbergh). But I do believe that the structure of the prize, the creation of a competition and the involvement of the public and the media helps to supercharge the paradigm transformation. As humans we have evolved to compete… it is in our genes and we love to watch a competition.
What are my big-picture thoughts on this five-year milestone?
The most important legacy and meaning of the Ansari X PRIZE on its 5 year anniversary lies in the fact that the event kicked off a new industry. In the same way that Lindbergh’s flight across the Atlantic in 1927 is seen as an inception point for today’s $300 Billion Aviation industry, I’m extremely proud that the Ansari X PRIZE has created a new personal spaceflight industry. Not only did these historic flights culminate in a beautiful exhibition in the Smithsonian, at the entrance to the National Air & Space Museum, but much more profoundly, the winning flights by SpaceShipOne kicked off the personal spaceflight industry which has had over $1Billion invested in it during the past 5-years.
There were a lot of X PRIZE competitors, but was there really a race? Was the Da Vinci Project or Armadillo really in the running?
When the X PRIZE was announced on May 18th, 1996 (before it was even called the Ansari X PRIZE), I knew of maybe three or four potential companies (teams) that might compete for the purse. I was shocked in the final result to have 26 teams from 7 nations in the running. In retrospect, I would probably say that the 26 teams could be divided into three groups. The first group, about 1/3 of the field had a shot of building the vehicle… they had a strong design, a strong team and the money or the ability to raise the funding. The second group had a strong design, a strong team but lacked the real ability to raise the funds, and the final group were those who we registered, but were unlikely to ever make anything significant happen beyond their basic concept. We discussed in the early days the criteria for registration, and the conditions under which we would turn away teams. Gregg Maryniak would always remind us that we “didn’t want to turn away those pesky bicycle mechanics from Dayton Ohio.”
In retrospect, Burt truly had a commanding lead ahead of the pack. Both the Da Vinci Project and Armadillo were there as leading contenders, but had a significant way to go in their financing and construction. Regardless, I would always remind the media and remind Burt that Admiral Byrd (first person to fly to the North Pole in an airplane) was the leading contender for the Orteig Prize, but Byrd crashed on take-off and a somewhat unknown aviator, Charles Lindbergh, ultimately claimed the purse.
What would you have done differently?
As I think back to the Ansari X PRIZE, the one thing which I wish we would have done differently is to have offered a second place prize of some amount, perhaps $1M or $2M. Such a second prize would have kept the drive for other teams to continue their development. At this time, a number of the Ansari X PRIZE contenders, and new players that have come forward since them, are pursuing sub-orbital craft. For them the prize is the marketplace. But without the pressure of the prize and its deadline, these teams have relaxed pushing forward and have taken a much more measured course of development.
It’s worth noting that when I asked Burt Rutan what he thought we should have done differently, his answer was a bit of a surprise to me. He would have preferred that we required three actual humans onboard the two winning flights rather than a pilot plus the weight and volume equivalent of the two passengers. Clearly the X PRIZE offered this alternative option (weight & volume rather than actual humans) as a safety measure. I think Burt would have wanted the excuse to ride in the back seat himself.
Now that several X PRIZE competitions have been launched, what makes a good X PRIZE vs. a not-so-good X PRIZE?
The X PRIZE Foundation and its entire team have learned a lot over the past 15 years. With a team of nearly 50 people, we’ve invested over 500 human-years into studying and learning about incentive prizes, what works and what doesn’t. We’ve studied other great successes like the work done by DARPA, NetFlix, GoldCorp and more others. Recently I wrote a detailed paper called “Using Incentive Prizes to Drive Creativity, Innovation and Breakthroughs” (available on the X PRIZE website for download) which outlines the cumulative thinking on this matter. In summary I would say that a Great X PRIZE is one that is telegenic, clearly defined goal, simple to explain, addresses a market failure (or area that is stuck) and something that can be won by a small dedicated team.
How do you feel about Virgin Galactic?
The fact that the Virgin logo was on the side of SpaceShipOne on October 4th 2004 was fantastic. To be honest, at the time, I was really somewhat Angry that Richard Branson had pulled off yet another marketing coup and capture the prime real estate for the Virgin brand (we had originally wanted to have the Ansari X PRIZE logo in that spot). But I quickly changed my point of view. Clearly Richard and his entire team are the marketing geniuses. But in the days and years following the winning of the $10M purse, I’ve come to appreciate that having the Virgin brand on the ship that day was really a success for the X PRIZE as well. Had the SS1 flight only ended up as a museum piece and a historical story, it really would have been somewhat of a failure. It is the fact that the winning flights ended up creating an industry and the fact that this industry was born co-temporal with the winning of the prize that is great news. So thank you Richard, Will Whitehorn, Alex Tai for taking the risk and moving the industry forward!
What prizes is the X PRIZE operating today? What is their Status?
Since the award of the Ansari X PRIZE, three additional competitions have been launched. Each of these is stretching our mission and our reach. They are:
- Archon X PRIZE for Genomics - $10 million prize for the first team to successfully sequence 100 human genomes in 10 days. Thus far we have about 9 teams registered with another 5 or 6 teams on the wings waiting to register. I would be surprised if this prize was not claimed in the next 24 months.
- Google Lunar X PRIZE - $30 million prize for the first privately funded teams to send a robot to the moon, travel 500 meters and transmit video, images and data back to the Earth. Thus far we have 21 teams registered from 11 nations. The recent discover of H20 and OH in the lunar soil makes this prize more important than ever. Each of these vehicles being developed represents future “prospecting” missions looking for resources on the Earth’s nearest celestial neighbor.
- Progressive Automotive X PRIZE - $10 million prize for the team that can demonstrate an automobile which is fast, safe, manufacturable, affordable and exceeds 100 MPGe (energy equivalent) fuel economy. I was blown away that we had 134 different designs that registered. We will see this competition come to a win in 2010.
How does the Lunar Lander Challenge, which may be reaching something of a climax this year, compare with the Ansari X PRIZE atmosphere?
I would be remised if I didn’t mention the amazing success of the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge, a $2M competition that the X PRIZE operates in cooperation with NASA (who provides the $2 million purse). The competition is challenging teams to create a rocket that can launch a vertical takeoff and landing that achieves the total delta-v needed for a vehicle to move between the surface of the Moon and its orbit. What is amazing about this competition is the teams and what they have been able to accomplish with a small part-time team of people (typically 3 – 8) working on 5 or 6-figure budgets. While this competition hasn’t had the visibility and historic significance of Ansari, I’m very much proud of what we are doing here. The 4 companies that are actually building and demonstrating hardware (nominally Armadillo Aerospace, Masten Space, Unreasonable Rocket and True Zero have been flying vehicles) are creating a cottage industry of propulsion engineers that will give us the experience base needed to fuel entrepreneurial spaceflight efforts. The engine, for example, being used by Armadillo in the NGLLC is the same engine that they will use to power their sub-orbital human carrying vehicles in the next 24 months.
What Space Prizes are you excited about going forward? What would you recommend to NASA’s Centennial Challenges program?
We’ve thought about space prizes along the following lines:
- Rapid point-to-point travel, say NY to Paris in less than 60 minutes;
- An Orbital Debris X PRIZE… A prize for the team able to target and remove a specific pieces of orbital debris.
- Asteroid rendezvous and mapping
- Asteroid deflection – demonstrate the ability to deflect an asteroid in a precise and controlled fashion
Perhaps my favorite space X PRIZE and the one that I’m spending the most time promoting is what I call a “Beamed Energy Propulsion X PRIZE.” If you stop and think about it, the form of propulsion used today hasn’t changed in over a thousand years… Since the invention of fireworks by the Chinese. Basically you burn (oxidize) a material in a tube, hot gases come out one end and the vehicle flies in the opposite direction. Sure our rockets have gotten bigger and more efficient, but the basic design remains unchanged.
The concept I’m excited about is demonstrating propulsion that uses a ground based energy source, typically high-energy directed microwave beams that are precisely aimed at a rocketship that absorbs the energy using it to heat a working fluid (typically hydrogen or water) that is then expended out of the nozzle. Such a system (which I believe is very feasible today) would revolutionize propulsion.
Draft guidelines for such an X PRIZE might look something like:
- Demonstrate a fully-reusable system able to launch a 10-kilogram payload to 30 kilometer altitude which derives 100% of its energy from a ground-based beamed power system
- Recover the launch system and payload and repeat the launch within 48 hours
- Team can replace no more than 10% percent of the dry mass between launches
What future prizes are you interested in outside of space?
The prizes of most interest outside of the space realm are the following:
- Healthcare X PRIZE – Must improve healthcare value by 50% in a 10,000 person community during a three year trial, changing health financing, care delivery and create new incentives to improve health value for individuals and communities (funded by WellPoint, Inc.)
- TB Diagnostics – Develop a fast, portable, accurate diagnostic system that can rapidly diagnose tuberculosis (the second most lethal infectious disease in the developing world). (funded by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation)
- Ocean X PRIZE Suite – Focusing on research, exploration, conservation and healing to improve the Earth’s Oceans. In particular we are looking at prize concepts for mapping the Ocean’s floor and developing efficient, safe and affordable human transportation to the Ocean floor (funded by Eric Schmidt).
- Bionics – Develop a set of prosthetic biomechanical legs that allow a paraplegic the ability to walk and function normally in society at the same time that these legs could allow a person to climb a mountain.
- AI Physician – Develop an Artificial Intelligence that can diagnose a patient through a natural language interview at the same level of accuracy as a board certified physician.
- Autonomous Car -- There are two versions of this prize that we are thinking about. The first is for the first autonomous car that can drive non-stop from LA to Washington DC, 100% autonomously, do it within 3 days and obey all of the traffic laws. The second version is the equivalent of the “Big Blue” chess match. This prize would be for the first autonomous car to win a grand prix race against a top seated human driver.
How does the X PRIZE Foundation and the recently founded Singularity University fit together?
Both organizations are focused on future breakthroughs. While the X PRIZE Foundation is in the business of clearly defining and articulating these challenges, the Singularity University (www.singularityU.org) is focused on attracting and educating the graduate students who will ultimately form the teams to competing in these future X PRIZEs.
How do the recent water-findings on the Moon affect the Google Lunar X PRIZE?
Today’s launch costs are unfortunately extremely expensive. On the average it costs something on the order of $20,000 per pound to get supplies into low-Earth orbit (where the Int’l Space Station is located) and, optimistically10x to 20x that cost, or approximately $400,000 per pound, to land something on the Moon’s surface.
So the cost of transporting water to the lunar surface, or oxygen, or hydrogen is about $400,000 per pound or $25,000 per ounce… about twenty-five times the price of gold today!
Revealing water in significant quantities on the Moon could truly be a turning point in space exploration. Who will set up the first water mining plants? Given low-cost availability of water, hydrogen and oxygen, what type of off-Earth economies and exploration will this enable? The question is not too dissimilar to those questions asked when oil was discovered buried deep under the Earth or under the oceans. We eventually designed the technology to mine and extract this precious resource. It’s what we do as humans and entrepreneurs.
I’m excited for all of the teams building vehicles for the Google Lunar X PRIZE. I think of these vehicles as a low-cost ‘prospector’ looking for information and valuable data. Perhaps equivalent to the picks & shovels suppliers for the California Gold Rush. Ultimately, everyone will benefit from low-cost lunar exploration and these Google Lunar Teams will be on the cutting edge of a new gold rush.
Given the success of the Ansari X PRIZE, are other organizations being to emulate the incentive prize model?
The success of the Ansari X PRIZE has proven that incentivized competition stimulates growth in industries that have the potential to benefit the entire world. As noted in a recent McKinsey & Company report, “prizes attract diverse groups of experts, practitioners, and laypeople – regardless of formal credentials – to attempt to solve difficult problems, dramatically expanding the pool of potential solvers and lower the cost of attempting or recognizing solutions.” Further, “prizes highlight and elevate superlative behaviors, ideas, and achievements in order to motivate, guide, and inspire others. Identifying excellence remains the cornerstone of many prizes – the essence of their power to produce change.”
Incentive prizes represent the future of philanthropy and driving breakthroughs. X PRIZES offer incredible leverage (typically 10 – 40 times the prize purse is spent to win the prize) and efficiency (you only pay the winner).
You get what you incentivize. Incentive prizes work. Today there are now more than a dozen $1M or greater incentive prizes in a wide range of areas. There’s no reason that a decade from now there might be well over one-hundred active multi-million dollar incentive prizes.
Launching Commercial Space Flight: Part Five -- Brian Binnie Makes History
One of the biggest concerns people have about space travel is whether or not it is safe. Yet, while I was launching into sub-orbit, the safety risk was the last thing on my mind. I was intimately involved in the rocket motor testing of the program and was comfortable with its capabilities and knew our air-launch approach gave us many more safety options than a ground launch of a conventional rocket. That final SpaceShipOne flight required high performance and fine precision to execute well. Because it demanded my full attention, I was just too busy to be concerned for my safety!
I first learned about the X PRIZE while I was working for Rotary Rocket, testing a rocket that we designed and built, and were in the process of trying to fly. It was not until I joined Burt Rutan’s Scaled Composites team, under contract for Paul Allen that I thought it was possible to win the prize. At that point, the X PRIZE was unfunded and had no deadline, and yet, despite this, the prize became our motivator; the carrot that pushed us forward. We had a very small team of 30, which enabled us to be agile and flexible. There were not a lot of approvals that had to happen, so we could sit around a coffee table with our notes and make quick decisions that would be rapidly put into motion. We were confident we had the right technology, but the time frame was a major concern. Rightly so, because the initial competition deadline came and went without us sending SpaceShipOne into space. We needed an extension if we were going to succeed, and fortunately, the Ansaris gave it to us when they extended the competition deadline by a year.
We finally completed the test flights for SpaceShipOne with very little time before the second deadline expired. The rules of the competition stipulated that we had to send the vehicle 100 kilometers into space twice in a two week period. The first flight was manned by my teammate Mike Melville, and while the flight was successful, it had some technical issues that needed to be addressed. The deadline forced us to focus. If there had been no X PRIZE, the technical issues in the first flight could have gotten the better of us, but the clock was ticking, so to speak, and we had the prize in our sights. Safety issues with Mike’s first X PRIZE flight were mostly a public misunderstanding and did not preoccupy us at Scaled. We certainly wanted to avoid a repeat performance of his “roll record” so that the follow-on effort for Virgin Galactic would have a better chance of being realized.
When the day of my flight finally came, I was working with very little sleep. Prior to the release point, I had an excruciating hour in which I had little to do but sit, think, and come face to face with the demons that lurked into my thoughts as I waited. Would things go according to plan? Had SpaceShipOne revealed to us all its secrets? The flight test was under such a microscope that I couldn’t even sneeze – without multiple cameras in the cockpit beaming the images back to the many people watching including the whole Scaled team, the X PRIZE Foundation, Paul Allen, Sir Richard Branson, NASA, and tons of media outlets. 
Considering that I hadn’t flown the vehicle in some 10 months, I felt I was under a huge amount of pressure. Then, after the hour long wait, things shifted into fast forward and everything happened incredibly quickly. After release, I was under the impressive acceleration of the hybrid rocket and thundering toward space. The shuddering and shaking vibrations combined with the demonic screeching of that motor were most memorable. But, by far, the best part was the contrast provided when I shut off the rocket; Blessed peace and quiet and the instant karma of weightlessness. And then, my God, that view! Separating the black void that is space from the peaceful panorama below is a thin blue electric ribbon of light that is the atmosphere. For 4 minutes I got to soak it all in. I tell you, one cannot be unmoved by the experience! From Mojave, I could see the San Francisco Bay to the North, Baja Mexico to the south, the Sierra-Nevada Mountains and the Pacific. I captured some of the sights with a camera but it’s definitively something you need to see for yourself.
It was almost possible to forget that I was still driving this spaceship and would have the challenge of bringing it back down to earth. Thankfully, due to the brilliance of Burt’s “feather” reentry configuration, that entire phase of flight, normally fraught with danger, was a non-event. There were some moderate G’s to endure and lots of noise as the atmosphere welcomed my supersonic return to Earth, but the ride was otherwise syrupy smooth compared to the rumbling ride under the rocket. About 80 minutes after departure, I returned, landing in front of a most enthusiastic and supportive crowd to claim the $10 million X PRIZE with Scaled’s distinguished and elated team.
I can describe this incredible experience without the slightest fear of ruining it for you. It is not like a movie – it absolutely cannot be spoiled. Reflecting back on it, I am like many Astronauts I know, struck by one compelling thought - I can’t wait to go back.
Once upon a time, there was a great Friday Fun Day on Space Haiku. Today, we relive those great moments of days past -- but this time, let's hear some haikus about your favorite GLXP, NGLLC, or Ansari X PRIZE team! For example:
Welcome BonNovA
Light up that rocket engine
Fly that Lauryad, fly!
I know, can you believe I just came up with that? ;) See, it's easy! Now it's your turn, and bonus points if you @-reply on Twitter and keep it under 140 characters (Will has coined a phrase for this: "#Twaiku").
Courtesy of @cariann from the last Haiku poetry slam:
GLXP is
the coolest contest evah
because I said so!
Some Haikus we've received so far:
From @VAXHeadroom
Armadillo flies
John pounds keys furiously
Concrete Pad melted
Go for the million!
A nail-biting three minutes
and then back again
a thousand miles?
just fifty meters today
mach diamonds alight
(after @glxp comment that he is a master of Haiku)
A haiku master?
an honor, but not really
i code flight software
From @chris_radcliff:
X once marked the spot
waves of fire splash across sand
wiped clean by Xombie
going to Luna
like leaves carried on the wind
FREDNET makes a tree
From @TezMcKittrick:
This hopeful moon quest
it's the worst party ever
atmosphere lacking
From @NextGiantLeap:
Shadowed in darkness
Fire illuminates craft
Cold new river flows
Dreams of youth faded
Apollo calls to me now
Too late to die young
From @Pomerantz:
Unreasonable!
Armadillo! Bonnova!
Masten! Truezer0!
So many cool teams
How could I play favorites?
Rocketeers galore!
From @wikkit:
Xombie hover test
New rocket chamber progress
Fall day in Mojave
Checkout flight test first
ground takeoff-landing second
third makes nine three secs
From @GLXP:
For Team Masten Space
Wishing you smooth landings and
A happy engine!
Going to the Moon
And growing a little tree
What an Odyssey!
Post Haikus below or reply on Twitter, and I'll compile them here. Happy Friday Fun Day!
Links: Building Design Competition, Google Wave - Google Earth Blog - From the blog: Hasbro, the company behind Monopoly City Streets, has just announced a competition to let users design buildings that might appear in the game. Between now and October 6, design your building using Google SketchUp and then upload it to the Google 3D Warehouse. ...
Cheap Contest - John Hare at Selenian Boondocks issued a $100 orbital mechanics literature search contest. So far Bob Steinke of SpeedUp has sent in an attempt at winning the contest.
What Is Open Innovation at JSC? Update - NASA Watch - Here's an excerpt from an update to this post: JSC has made two contract awards: one to Innocentive, Inc. and the other to Yet2.com.
NIA and NASA Announce Student Engineering Competition - press release about RASC-AL on SpaceRef: Students can choose one of four themes for their project: a lunar outpost design that will help reduce risk for future human missions to Mars; technology -enabled human Mars mission; novel concepts to engage the general public in human exploration missions; and architecture approaches that provide cost-effective exploration with minimal infrastructure.
Centennial Challenges 2009 Astronaut Glove Challenge - Justia.com Regulation Tracker: The 2009 Astronaut Glove Challenge is now scheduled, and teams that wish to compete may now register. ... The 2009 Astronaut Glove Challenge is being administered by Volanz Aerospace Inc. for NASA. ... The 2009 Astronaut Glove Challenge will be held on November 18-19, 2009. Location: The 2009 Astronaut Glove Challenge will be held at United States Astronaut Hall of Fame in Kennedy Space Center, Florida (near the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Center).
Today it's all about a quick compilation of a stack of tweets with no comments from me (other than this introduction). If you don't know who the tweeter is, just follow the opening link.
@bonnova - RT @NGLLC09: Officially announcing a 4th competitor for #NGLLC. Welcome @BonNovA! Details: http://bit.ly/3orl76
@unrocket - First silver tether flight was stable, climbed too high and was aborted. Will try again late today or early fri.
Pressure sensor intermitant short. Killed a/d inputs hard to find and fix in desert going home back fri nighr
@NGLLC09 - RT @wikkit: We ran another full load through the test stand today, in 5 engine runs. Looking really good on a fix for #ngllc problem.
@tedprize - RT @TEDchris - TED Prize winner Sylvia Earle's spectacular new book, The World Is Blue: http://bit.ly/FflGE
@fineri - Working out an engine start sequence, watching video's of various components moving to sort out the timing......
@ARCAspace - ARCA team visited the Constanta, Venus and Fulgerul ships prior to equipments arrival on board. These ships will... http://bit.ly/3aedLj [... be used for the launch of Mission 3. ]
@grncheese - See our lunar regolith excavator in action: http://bit.ly/2WWidF
@paulsrobotics - Workin' hard 24/7 on the @W_P_I entry for the @Regolith_Chal. Students, prof, and alum working together towards $500K prize.
http://yfrog.com/17rrylj our test sandbox
http://yfrog.com/3d22vgj electronics dust cover
http://yfrog.com/14s2rj rear bump switch
@Regolith_Chal - Had an important milestone meeting today and it was a great success. Thanks to teams, judges, and other contributors to this.
@jmcenanly I heard that Charles Bolden mentioned @regolith_chal in a speach recently. Help us carry the message that prizes are helping.
@glxp - Our newest team is on Twitter: @openmoon
#xprize tweetups now happening on Monday in Houston, Albuquerque, San Francisco, and LA. This calls for a hashtag: #XPTweetup
Just got off a telecon with @mmealling and others to discuss media for #NGLLC next week - Masten plans to fly again in one week.
@Pomerantz - RT @glxp: Announcing 2 events next week to celebrate 5th anniversary of winning Ansari X PRIZE: http://bit.ly/OhJ95
@NASAPrize - Lots of ideas for new prize challenges posted at http://bit.ly/2sBodo
@ConradAwards - Upcoming webinar 10/06/07- Josh Neubert The Innovation Classroom. Questions encouraged! @ www.conradawards.org "The exchange" 3:00 PM PT
@Virgin_Galactic - We are working on the format of the SpaceShipTwo unveiling event in December.
@ISPCS - new confirmed: Anousheh Ansari, Space Ambassador CEO, Chairman & Co-founder Prodea Systems, Inc.
The Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge continues to heat up, with a FOURTH competitor now officially entered in the race for the remaining purses. Team BonNovA, stationed in Mojave, CA, will be flying their Lauryad I & II vehicles on October 26-27, 2009 at Cantil, CA. We are definitely excited to see what they have in store for the competition.
While you wait for their attempts, you can keep up with Team BonNovA in the following locations:
Website: http://www.bonnova.com
Twitter: @bonnova
In other Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge news, it is now October and autumn is in the air, which can only mean one thing... it's rocket season! Masten Space Systems will fly again next Wednesday and Thursday (October 7-8), and we'll be out there covering the events on both of those days. Masten is working on providing a webcast, but you can also follow along on Twitter (@ngllc09, @dmasten, @Pomerantz, @alias_amanda, @wikkit, @NASAPrize, and hashtag #ngllc) or on Facebook. Also note that we'll have 6 solid days of rockets between Oct. 26 - 31!
Since there are now four competitors, we've created a leaderboard so that you can keep track of each team's attempts and performance. We'll update after each attempt. Here is the current standing [click here for the larger, pdf version]:
