Winning the original Ansari X-Prize was a big deal. Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne managed to ascend to the edge of space twice in 14 days, even breaking the X-15's unofficial world altitude record. I take nothing away from this accomplishment when I say that suborbital flight, challenging as it is, is nothing compared to orbital flight.
Most experts estimate it will take twenty-five times as much energy to climb into orbit as is used for suborbital flights. This energy must be dissipated on reentry; thermal protection becomes much more difficult to address. In fact, everything becomes more difficult, but orbit is where all the Space 2.0 entrepreneurs really want to go. To attempt it, maybe all they need is a little extra motivation.
And so it is with a great deal of interest that I read about a new X-Prize challenge. As the teaser video above says,
"The challenge is extreme, the destination is extraordinary, the prize purse is exceptional."
Could it be that the next X-Prize challenge will be to get a manned spacecraft on orbit? Or an unmanned craft to the moon? Whatever it is, we'll find out on September 13th at Wired Magazine's NextFest.
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