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8/27/2003 X PRIZE TEAM SUMMARIES (Note: see www.xprize.org for more detailed data) List of Registered X PRIZE Teams 1. Acceleration Engineering 2. Advent Launch Services 3. Aeronautics and Cosmonautics Romanian Association - ARCA 4. American Astronautics Corporation 5. Armadillo Aerospace 6. Bristol Spaceplanes 7. Canadian Arrow 8. The da Vinci Project 9. Pablo de León and Associates 10. Discraft Corporation 11. Flight Exploration 12. Fundamental Technology Systems 13. IL Aerospace Technologies (ILAT) 14. Interorbital Systems (IOS) 15. Kelly Space & Technology 16. Lone Star Space Access 17. Micro-Space, Inc. 18. PanAero 19. Pioneer Rocketplane 20. Scaled Composites 21. Starchaser Industries 22. Suborbital Corporation 23. TGV Rockets 24. Vanguard Spacecraft X PRIZE TEAM SUMMARY Page 1 1. ACCELERATION ENGINEERING Ship Name: Lucky Seven Team Leader: Mickey Badgero Nation: USA – Bath, Michigan Launch: Rocket Powered Vertical Takeoff Landing: Parafoil Landing Web: None Lucky Seven will be a conical rocket 9 meters long and 3 meters between fin tips. For launch and landing, the rocket will be supported on four fixed leg-fins, each five feet tall. These legs are part of a metal frame that supports the propulsion system, a pressurized cabin, and a nose cone/recovery system. Launching vertically, the main engines will burn for 90 seconds, after which the rocket will coast for another 100 seconds past the 100-kilometer altitude mark. Passengers will experience weightlessness for about three and a half minutes - from the time the engines shut off until the rocket falls back into the atmosphere. Upon reentering the atmosphere, a drogue parachute will be deployed to slow the ascent. When the air thickens, a parafoil will be deployed. The spacecraft will then return to the launch site, using a Global Positioning System satellite guidance system, gliding to a vertical landing. 2. ADVENT LAUNCH SERVICES Ship Name: Mayflower Team Leader: Jim Akkerman Nation: USA – Houston, Texas Launch: Rocket Powered Vertical Takeoff from Water Landing: Horizontal Glide Landing on Water Web: www.ghg.net/jimakkerman Advent Launch Services (ALS) is an employee-owned corporation established to provide reliable earth-to-orbit payload deliveries at a small fraction of today's costs and to establish a fully-commercial space program. ALS is a group of NASA retirees with extensive experience with space vehicle development. James W. (Jim) Akkerman is president and has primary responsible for the Advent concept. The Advent spacecraft is launched vertically from water and landed horizontally like a sea plane. It is a winged rocket that is designed to glide down to the ocean surface for a safe, controlled landing. A full-scale engineering test vehicle has been completed and rocket engine tests were performed in June 2003. Results of these tests have led to some redesign of propulsion system components. Page 2 X PRIZE TEAM SUMMARY 8/27/2003 3. AERONAUTICS AND COSMONAUTICS ROMANIAN ASSOCIATION - ARCA Ship Name: Orizont Team Leader: Dimitru Popescu Nation: Romania - Rimnicu Vilcea Launch: Rocket Powered Vertical Takeoff Landing: Parachute Descent on Water Web: www.arcaspace.ro The Orizont vehicle is extremely simple to ensure a high reliability and low production cost. The entire vehicle has a length of 14 meters (46 feet), a diameter of 1.4 meters (4.6 feet), and weighs 7,000 kg (15,430 pounds). The vehicle will take-off vertically, from a launch pad and accelerates to a speed of about 1,300 m/s. At 40,000 m the engine will shut down, and the vehicle will continue to coast to an altitude above 100 km. The acceleration will be no greater than 3.5G. The crew capsule separates from the launch vehicle at an altitude of 80 km. The return to the surface of the Earth of the Orizont vehicle will be made in two separated pieces. One piece will be the rocket, and the other will be the capsule. Both will have a parachute recovery system, and they will land on sea. The main parachutes will be deployed at an altitude of 4 km. Helicopters will recover both the capsule and rocket. The occupants of the capsule will stay in the vehicle until the helicopter will transport the capsule to the land. 4. AMERICAN ASTRONAUTICS CORPORATION Ship Name: The Spirit of Liberty Team Leader: Bill Sprague Nation: USA – Oceanside, California Launch: Rocket Powered Vertical Takeoff Landing: Parachute Descent on Water Web: www.americanastronautics.com/Projects/X-Prize The American Astronautics Corp. is a group of seasoned “low cost launch vehicle” designers, builders, testers, and launchers of simple, pressure fed, reusable space launch vehicles which follow the Minimum-Cost-To-Flight philosophy. The Spirit of Liberty is the logical step leading from the X-3 to take a single person to an altitude of 100 km, and to the currently in-work commercial space tourism vehicle designed by Sprague, capable of carrying 30 passengers. The Spirit of Liberty will weigh about 10,000 pounds and have an engine producing some 20,000 pounds of thrust. The rocket is 3 feet in diameter and some 42 feet long. X PRIZE TEAM SUMMARY Page 3 5. ARMADILLO AEROSPACE Ship Name: Black Armadillo Team Leader: John Carmack Nation: USA – Dallas, Texas Launch: Rocket Powered Vertical Takeoff Landing: Parachute Descent on Land with Crushable Nosecone Web: www.armadilloaerospace.com Leading a small team of dedicated enthusiasts with eclectic backgrounds, John Carmack founded Armadillo Aerospace in 2000 an incorporated on January 1, 2001. Since that time, the Armadillo team has accomplished more than some groups have in decades; and each successful achievement leads them to one of their goals. Armadillo Aerospace has set its site on winning the X PRIZE. Armadillo Aerospace is located in Mesquite, Texas, USA. As testing on vehicle systems progresses, the design of the Black Armadillo is gradually maturing. The current design is a single stage vehicle with non-traditional operating features. The Black Armadillo’s propulsion system consists of four pressure fed, hydrogen peroxide, monopropellant system rocket engines fed from a single tank. The propellant tank has a capacity for 1,600 gallons (6,055 liters) of hydrogen peroxide. The exhaust of a hydrogen peroxide propulsion system is environment-friendly (superheated steam and gaseous oxygen). Recent testing of the crushable nose cone landing system was performed as the full-scale test vehicle was dropped from 20,000 feet. 6. BRISTOL SPACEPLANES Ship Name: Ascender Team Leader: David Ashford Nation: United Kingdom – Bristol, England Launch: Horizontal Take-Off from Conventional Runway Landing: Horizontal Landing at Conventional Runway Web: www.bristolspaceplanes.com Bristol Spaceplanes Limited, based in Bristol, England, was formed in 1991 to the Ascender Spaceplane. Bristol Spaceplanes has been an industry leader in spaceplane design for more than 30 years. David Ashford is director of Bristol Spaceplanes Limited. He graduated from Imperial College and University of London. Ascender is a small airplane that can reach the altitude of space (i.e. 100 kilometers or 62 miles) but not orbital speeds. It is fitted with jet engines and a rocket motor. It takes off from an ordinary airfield using its jet engines and climbs at subsonic speed to a height of 8km. The pilot then starts the rocket engine and pulls the spaceship up into a steep climb. When the rocket fuel is used up Ascender is climbing close to the vertical at a speed of Mach 2.8, from which it coasts to a maximum height of 100km. Ascender then enters a steep dive. On reaching the atmosphere the pilot pulls out of the dive and flies back to the airfield from which he took off some 30 minutes earlier. Ascender will carry a crew of two and two passengers to space and back. Passengers will experience two minutes of weightlessness, will see superb views of Earth, and will see the sky turn black even in daytime. Page 4 X PRIZE TEAM SUMMARY 8/27/2003 7. CANADIAN ARROW Ship Name: Canadian Arrow Team Leader: Geoff Sheerin Nation: Canada – Toronto, Ontario Launch: Rocket Powered Vertical Takeoff Landing: Parachute Descent on Water Web: www.canadianarrow.com The Canadian Arrow is one of two Canadian X PRIZE teams. The Canadian Arrow vehicle takes off vertically under 57,000 lbs of engine thrust. This first stage burns for approximately 55 seconds to an altitude of 90,000 ft. The second stage crew cabin then separates and burns for 5 seconds, boosting the velocity enough to reach 70 miles altitude. The acceleration at separation is no more than 4.5 Gs. The pilot will orient the vehicle for the best window view for passengers during the flight through the 70-mile high arc. Just before reentry the ram air ballute is deployed; once the crew cabin slows to subsonic speed the three main parachutes are pulled out slowing the vehicle to a gentle splashdown. The Canadian Arrow team has built a full-scale mockup which it trucked down to Manhattan in April 2002. In June 2003, Canadian Arrow announced their selection of astronauts to fly the Canadian Arrow vehicles in X PRIZE competition flights in late 2003. The company has had a successful rocket test of a partial engine and a full scale engine test is expected soon. 8. THE DA VINCI PROJECT Ship Name: Wild Fire Team Leader: Brian Feeney Nation: Canada – Toronto, Ontario Launch: Air Launch from Balloon Landing: Parachute Descent on Land Web: www.davinciproject.com The da Vinci Project will launch its spacecraft from a large helium balloon. The 5,500 pound rocket will be tethered 600 meters below the 25-story balloon and lifted over the course of an hour to an altitude of 80,000 feet. The 10,000-pound thrust, liquid oxygen, kerosene engines will fire the first stage and the rocket will fly an initial angular trajectory to clear the balloon.
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