Comments on: Is 2006 a banner year?

By: Gene

Gene — Sun, 16 Jul 2006 01:46:57 +0000

We’ll still go: from the brochure the event sounds very promising. Do you have any expectations of suborbital / orbital flights occuring in the next year or two?

Thanks for the information.

By: Jeff Foust

Jeff Foust — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 10:30:50 +0000

Gene, No, there will be no suborbital or orbital launches occuring at the X Prize Cup this year; there aren't really any vehicles available to perform such flights, and Las Cruces International Airport isn't a spaceport. The Lunar Lander Challenge launches will all be low-level flights, but should still be interesting: you'll see vehicles take off, hover, move sideways, and land, all under rocket power. (Well, hopefully they'll do all that.) Unfortunately the X Prize folks have falled behind schedule in promoting the event: the web site for the Cup says that their new site will launch "in early June", over a month ago.

By: Gene

Gene — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 14:05:46 +0000

My wife and I have been trying to make sense of the X-Cup brochure to determine what, if anything, will actually fly? Can you shed any light on that topic?

I understand there will be a Lunar Landing competition, but as you say, it is a pretty low-altitude flight, and the main point is landing. Will anything fly into suborbital area and / or in orbit?