I’ll be posting updates from the XCOR press conference today here: Click Here
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As announced last week, XCOR will unveil some new details about their business plans for Lynx at a press conference today, including their first customer and their sales partner. Much of that news, though, has already leaked out. Yesterday The Daily Mail reported that London investment banker Per Wimmer will be XCOR’s first customer. When I first heard the description of the customer — “a European adventurer who aims to be the first person from his country to make a suborbital flight” — Wimmer’s name immediately came to mind: the native of Denmark is clearly an adventurer, as you can see from his web site, and has long had an interest in flying in space. However, he already signed up with Virgin Galactic, so I assumed he wouldn’t sign up with another company. Apparently not: after all, his web site notes that the 2010-2011 timeframe is the “expected launch window for his first amongst several trips to space.” (emphasis added). Also, if you look at the press release on the XCOR site, there’s an image of someone that does look like Wimmer. This morning came a press release announcing that RocketShip Tours will sell rides on the Lynx for $95,000. The heretofore unknown company, based in Phoenix, was founded by Jules Klar, whose work in the travel industry dates back to the creation of “$5-A-Day Tours” of Europe in 1961. The $95,000 price point is not surprising, since the company had originally hinted that they would offer flights at about half the cost of competing companies; Virgin Galactic’s list price is $200,000. (The past tense format of the press release — “XCOR officials discussed” — suggest that this press release was supposed to go out no earlier than today’s press conference at 10 am PST/1 pm EST, but hit the wires instead in the early morning hours today. Also, the web site for RocketShip Tours is showing only a generic Apache server test page as of this morning.) I will be listening in to today’s press conference (technology permitting) and relay any additional news that comes out of the event. I heard about this last week during a brief visit to Mojave, but it’s now official: XCOR Aerospace will announce plans next week for Lynx ticket sales. The December 2 press conference in Beverly Hills will include the announcement of its “General Sales Agent”, a “well-known and established travel entrepreneur” who will be handling ticket sales; its first customer, a “European adventurer who aims to be the first person from his country to make a suborbital flight”; and a ticket price that is “substantially lower than prices quoted by leading competitors”. (On the last point, comments by XCOR at the March announcement of Lynx suggested a ticket price on the order of $100,000.) Orbital Outfitters will also be present at the press conference, demonstrating the pressure suit that will be worn by both Lynx pilots and spaceflight participants. SpaceX conducted a nine-engine Falcon 9 test Saturday night, much to the surprise—and consternation—of people in communities surrounding the McGregor, Texas test site. SpaceX described the 177-second test at 11:30 pm EST Saturday as a nine-engine “mission duty cycle” test of the Falcon 9 first stage, and that it was a “complete success”. The test startled many people around the area, including in nearby Waco; the Waco police department reported receiving dozens of calls from people fearing the test was a bomb, plane crash, or some other kind of explosion. Comments in the Waco Tribune-Herald report linked to above range from outrage that they weren’t warned in advance of the test (SpaceX apparently did provide advance notice in McGregor, but not necessarily in other towns in the area, including Waco) to humor. A favorite: “Nothing like a glass a scotch a lawn chair a cigar and 1.5 million foot pounds of pressure to make someone feel alive.” Richard Garriott, the space tourist who flew to the International Space Station last month, is leaving computer game company NCSoft to pursue new ventures that were at least inspired by his recent trip to space. “Many of you probably wonder what my plans are, now that I have achieved the lifelong dream of going to space,” he said in a letter on the web site of “Tabula Rasa”, the latest game he produced. “Well, that unforgettable experience has sparked some new interests that I would like to devote my time and resources to. As such, I am leaving NCsoft to pursue those interests.” Garriott has not released any additional information about those interests, and NCSoft had no comment about his departure. According to Wired News, “most see this as an opportunity for the developer to finally devote the entirety of his time to the various space tourism initiatives he has long had a hand in.” Garriott is on the board of Space Adventures, the company that arranged his trip to space. However, it’s also possible that his interests lie beyond personal spaceflight. For example, among his activities in space was performing protein crystallization experiments for ExtremoZyme, a company co-founded by Owen Garriott, a former NASA astronaut and Richard Garriott’s father. The Las Cruces Sun-News reports that a spaceport tax referendum in Otero County, New Mexico, appears headed to defeat. According to data from the county clerk’s office, the tax (one-eighth of one percent on gross receipts) was behind 8,954 to 8,179 votes, or 52.26 to 47.74 percent, with all but absentee ballots counted. Unless there’s a large number of such ballots with a disproportionate number of “for” votes (and early voting, which New Mexico does have, has already been included in the results above), then the spaceport tax will fail. The defeat will not be a fatal blow for the spaceport, since only a few percent of the facility’s funding would have come from the tax, but it will be a setback for supporters. Similar taxes (actually twice as large: one-quarter of a percent) narrowly passed last year in Doña Ana County, which includes Las Cruces, last year, and Sierra County, which includes Truth or Consequences, this spring. As the 2008 Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge was winding down, I was able to sit down and talk with John Carmack of Armadillo Aerospace for several minutes. Below is the video from that interview, where Carmack discusses what happened with Pixel on Saturday, his plans for the future (which begin with tracking down and solving the engine problem that doomed Pixel’s Level 2 attempt), and his relief at winning Level 1 after two years of coming up short. This weekend was a milestone not just for Armadillo Aerospace and the Lunar Lander Challenge but for one of the people behind the scenes, Ken Davidian. The former manager of NASA’s Centennial Challenges prize program, Ken is leaving his position leading commercial policy development in NASA’s Exploration Systems Mission Directorate for a similar position within the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation. I chatted briefly with Ken about his old and new jobs, and his thoughts about the Lunar Lander Challenge, earlier in the week at the International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight: The X PRIZE Foundation issued a press release about the 2008 Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge Saturday, highlighing Armadillo’s Level 1 victory, their attempt at Level 2, as well as TrueZer0’s Level 1 attempt. Also, I’ve uploaded another set of photos to Flickr with the highlights of Saturday’s activities, including a look at launch pads used for the competition. At the press conference yesterday after Armadillo won the Level 1 Lunar Lander Challenge, Peter Diamandis said that Armadillo would get the official $350,000 prize check at a ceremony in Washington, DC, at a date to be determined. However, as the activities today were winding down at the airport, after Armadillo scrubbed for the day, John Carmack did get a little memento:
Best to hang on to that check – I doubt that “Uncle Sam” signature is legit. |
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