Space goes private

The ANSARI X PRIZE has been won. The X PRIZE is a $10 million dollar prize awarded to the first effort to fly a vehicle capable of carrying three humans into space, 100 kilometers (62.5 miles) straight up. The same vehicle must repeat the trip within two weeks.

On October 4, 2004, Mojave Aerospace Ventures, LLC achieved their second space flight with their ship, SpaceShipOne. They actually turned the vehicle around for the second trip in less than a week, making the first flight on September 29. This is an amazing feat, being a private endeavor that cost a fraction of what NASA spends to fly the space shuttles. The fuel they use is derived from nitrous oxide and rubber.

This flight marks the dawn of a viable private space industry. Now that it has been done, it will be done by more and more companies who see the opportunities. Surely it will start out as simple tourism, but as the flights become easier and more common we'll see new markets open up. Unlike terrestrial flight, this is more like sailing the ocean to the New World. We talk of colonizing space because once you achieve orbit you can stay there relatively easy. Unlike airplanes, who can only stay in air for a few hours, orbiting craft can remain in place indefinitely. We had Skylab in orbit for 6 years, Mir in orbit for 15 years and now have had the International Space Station in orbit since 1998. As private enterprise gains in skill in achieving space flight, the capabilities will progress and we will see a rapid growth. If you've ever seen the movie 2001: A Space Oddyssey you would get a sense of what could be possible.

What is too bad about this great achievement, in my mind, is the short shrift it has received in the corporate media. Most outlets treated the historic flight as an end-of-broadcast human interest story. Science and technology are always underreported until there is money being made. Had we had the same kind of corporate news we have now back in 1903, I doubt anyone would have noticed the achievement by the Wright Brothers of heavier-than-air flight at Kitty Hawk.

kherr @ 16:48 CDT | link | tech