America's Space Prize

America's Space Prize is a US$50 million space competition in orbital spaceflight established and funded by hotel entrepreneur Robert Bigelow. The prize would have been awarded to the first US-based privately-funded team to design and build a reusable manned capsule capable of flying 5 astronauts to a Bigelow Aerospace inflatable space module. The prize expires January 10, 2010. There must be two flights within 60 days. The teams must be based in the United States of America.

Prize rules

# The spacecraft must reach a minimum altitude of 400 kilometers (approximately 250 miles);
# The spacecraft must reach a minimum velocity sufficient to complete two (2) full orbits at altitude before returning to Earth;
# The spacecraft must carry no less than a crew of five (5) people;
# The spacecraft must dock or demonstrate its ability to dock with a Bigelow Aerospace inflatable space habitat, and be capable of remaining on station at least six (6) months;
# The spacecraft must perform two (2) consecutive, safe and successful orbital missions within a period of sixty (60) calendar days, subject to Government regulations;
# No more than twenty percent (20 percent) of the spacecraft may be composed of expendable hardware;
# The contestant must be domiciled in the United States of America.
# The contestant must have its principal place of business in the United States of America;
# The Competitor must not accept or utilize government development funding related to this contest of any kind, nor shall there be any government ownership of the competitor. Use in government test facilities shall be permitted; and
# The spacecraft must complete its two (2) missions safely and successfully, with all five (5) crew members aboard for the second qualifying flight, before the competition’s deadline of Jan. 10, 2010 [cite news | url = http://www.space.com/spacenews/businessmonday_bigelow_041108.html | title = Exclusive: Rules Set for $50 Million 'America’s Space Prize' | author = Leonard David | publisher = Space News | date = November 8, 2004]

Contestants

As of 2006, some 40 companies had expressed interest in the prize, but either didn't have the money which would apparently be needed, or, in the case of SpaceX, were ineligible due to having accepted government funding. Despite the lack of interest, Bigelow did not revise the prize rules, planning instead to seek transportation to space other ways. [cite news | work = The Space Review | url = http://www.thespacereview.com/article/667/2 | title = Bigelow Aerospace’s big day at the rodeo, part 2 | author = Jeff Foust | date = July 24, 2006]

A few contestants have been:

* Interorbital Systems [cite news | title = Space racers set sights on orbital frontier: After X Prize, some rivals seek more lucrative payoff | url = http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6199370/ | publisher = MSNBC.com | date = October 8, 2004]
* JP Aerospace [cite news | url = http://spacefellowship.com/News/?p=731 | title = JP Aerospace Information update AND JPA will compete for the Bigelow American Space prize | publisher = The International Space Fellowship | date = January 25th, 2005]
* SpaceDev [ [http://www.spacedev.com/ spacedev.com] , accessed in 2005?]
* SpaceX [cite news | title = Race for Next Space Prize Ignites | url = http://www.wired.com/news/space/0,2697,66308,00.html | work = Wired | date = 18 Jan 2005 | author = Michael Belfiore]
* Scaled Composites (speculatedWho|date=August 2007 - Tier Two)

ee also

* Orteig Prize
* Ansari X-Prize
* Mprize
* N-prize

References

External links

* [http://www.bigelowaerospace.com/multiverse/space_prize.php Official site] Dead link|date=September 2008
* [http://space.com/spacenews/businessmonday_bigelow_041108.html Exclusive: Rules Set for $50 Million 'America’s Space Prize'] SPACE.COM (November 8, 2004)
* [http://americanantigravity.com/graphics/interviews/Mike-Gold.wma Tim Ventura interviews Bigelow Aerospace spokesman Mike Gold on America's Space-Prize]