America's Space Prize: The next step into commercial space travel (Official Post)

Heh I didn't think of it, it was my friends idea He's a Prof at the University of Toronto btw, so if I'm guilty of anything it isn't repeating what he said exactly, and that would have been impossible as it was a 3 hour conversation. I have been trying to get him to open an ATS account for some time, and no I didn't take offense, but maybe YOU should do research before writing somting off. Oh yeah not to be rude or anything but as it stands now, Anti-Grav is so not mainstream, you say the Space Tether(because at first that is what its going to be) is impracticle then you go on to say it would be pointless when we develop antigrav. That is making a huge assumption, that it is actually within near term reach(antigrav that is). My hopes for any type of gravity control within my lifetime is slipping fast, unless you have a nugget of info that could change my mind, I still believe the best way to get cheap access to orbit is a space elevator. Mass production of Nanotubes has been taking place in pilot plants for 5 years now(and projections I have read have stated that Carbon Nanotubes should reach commodity prices with 5-10 years), the amount that they produce seems to double roughly every 6 months or so. The research into the spinning processes is going even faster, back in 2002 the longest CNT strand that was feasable only measured a few centimeters, now fast foward to 2005 and we can now make 99.9 % pure CNT strands 3 + meters. Now I do not like to preach, but one thing that is happening with technological development is its starting to speed up, exponantially so when I say that by 2020 we will have a working Space Tether system for unmanned Cargo, I do not feel like I am going out on a limb.

Here are a few links you might find interesting



For Cheap Nanotubes just add water

Nanotubes spun into superfibers

Nanotube Bike Rolling Out

Nano Conveyorbelt

That is just a sample of the breakthroughs that has happened in 2004. I expect alot of work to be done in this field in 2005 and even more breakthroughs to happen, not sure how soon though as these things seem to come in fits and starts. I mean there is usually a quiet period then everything starts buzzing so to speak. Very interesting field and very exciting to watch.

Yep Sar it should be interesting to see how nanotubes evlove in the near future but I still have my doubt about a space elavator based on nano tubeing tech or any other technology now known hehe. Nice links but untill nanotubing is mass produced enought that it costs about the same as high grade steel,I doubt we will see then in any large construction projects. But when that point is reach, no doubt a revolution will happen.

Originally posted by Countermeasures
I'm aware of the difference in orbital speed between the crevehicle and the bigelow spacehabitat, thats why i mentioned a rotating tether, so that tip of the tether virtually travels slower and might get catched by the crew vehicle.

Ah... I see what you mean, that makes more sense then what you said before, lol, but how would that craft then accelerate to mach 26 by using the tether?

[edit on 27-2-2005 by beyondSciFi]

NEWS UPDATE:

Three teams of contesters have official joined the race to put a spacecraft in orbit. These teams are: Interorbital systems, JP Aerospace and Space X. Although Scaled Composites is also speculated to enter the challenge as well, this is the same team that won the Ansari X Prize back in 2004. en.wikipedia.org...'s_Space_Prize

Woot let the race begin!

[edit on 28-2-2005 by beyondSciFi]

Check this link out, its an Interview with Brian Feeney, head of the Davinci project

www.abovetopsecret.com...

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Check the thread out. Here is some quotes.

The White House confirmed Friday that President Bush intends to nominate Mike Griffin, head of the space department at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) to be the next NASA Administrator.



Griffin, a rocket scientist with an MBA, is a veteran aerospace executive who has held a variety of senior-level positions at the Pentagon, NASA and in industry. Word of Griffin’s nomination had first been reported earlier in the day by SPACE.com's sister publication Space News.



He is replacing former NASA chief administrator Sean O’Keefe who resigned last December citing personal and financial reasons for his decision. O'Keefe took a job as chancellor of Louisiana State University's Baton Rouge campus. He served three years as NASA's chief. At present, veteran shuttle astronaut Frederick Gregory has been acting as interim administrator.

Is it just me, or are the requirements here basically making a comercial version of the space shuttle, minus the payload section

Originally posted by roniii259
Is it just me, or are the requirements here basically making a comercial version of the space shuttle, minus the payload section

Basically...yep.

It all boils down to this: People thought that with our technology improving so fast that by now we would have people on the moon and Mars, and other places. But the truth is Nasa is fairly inefficient, and the USAF classifies any technology that would help to make space travel easier, cheaper, and safer. So the people with the big pockets got tired of waiting and threw down some cash to get the space race 2 into full swing. and now its on, gaining momentum, I think it will be interesting to see how Nasa and the USAF will have to change there ways because of normal people in space.

Originally posted by Murcielago
It all boils down to this: People thought that with our technology improving so fast that by now we would have people on the moon and Mars, and other places. But the truth is Nasa is fairly inefficient, and the USAF classifies any technology that would help to make space travel easier, cheaper, and safer. So the people with the big pockets got tired of waiting and threw down some cash to get the space race 2 into full swing. and now its on, gaining momentum, I think it will be interesting to see how Nasa and the USAF will have to change there ways because of normal people in space.

Yeah, Mercielago your right. But there are other reasons why the people that started the first and second space race did it to begin with. Mainly being, that their companies would make large profits from cheaper access to space, not to mention that they would get world wide fame from the space races also helping business. All in all I still think its a good idea that someone started the America's Space Prize. Getting into orbit is much more important then gaining enough speed to do a pop up to 100 km in height (a sub-orbit). The first X prize was more of a stunt then anything else, while the Americas Space Prize will truly open the way for cheap space access.

[edit on 16-3-2005 by beyondSciFi]

BeyondSciFi
The first X prize was more of a stunt then anything else, while the Americas Space Prize will truly open the way for cheap space access.

Well...what you see as a stunt...I see as a the spark that helped light the fire.

Originally posted by Murcielago

BeyondSciFi
The first X prize was more of a stunt then anything else, while the Americas Space Prize will truly open the way for cheap space access.

Well...what you see as a stunt...I see as a the spark that helped light the fire.

Yup I agree, I do have very high hopes for America's Space Prise. I just wish it was not limited the way it is. It will not hamper any Canadian entrants(if there are any) but it would effectively make it impossible for overseas entrants to compete. I would love to see some Indian efforts as well as some British, Brazillian or Isreali just like in the X-Prize. I'm afraid we are not going to see that in this competition.

Originally posted by Murcielago

BeyondSciFi
The first X prize was more of a stunt then anything else, while the Americas Space Prize will truly open the way for cheap space access.

Well...what you see as a stunt...I see as a the spark that helped light the fire.

I'm not saying that it didn't help, I'm just saying that the Americas Space Prize challenge is much more significant. After all its not too hard to get to an altitude of 100 km, but orbiting is much more difficult... Too bad the challenge is limited to the USA, it would be interesting to see all of the world compete.

[edit on 16-3-2005 by beyondSciFi]

He's a business man, and he wants to get more jobs in America, rather then having even our space edge be out sourced as well. I'm glad that its American only.

Nothing is stoping the rest of the world from doing the same thing.

Originally posted by Murcielago
Nothing is stoping the rest of the world from doing the same thing.

Money is whats stopping the world from compete on the same level as the U.S.A. If everyone had enough money, we would have been over 50 years more advanced the we are now. Think about it, the world as of the end of 2004 had GDP of about 52 trillian doller, 12 trillian of which was produced by the USA.

Originally posted by beyondSciFi
Think about it, the world as of the end of 2004 had GDP of about 52 trillian doller, 12 trillian of which was produced by the USA.

If American jobs had stayed in the U.S. and the trade deficit was balanced, I'm sure that the $12 trillion GDP would be significantly higher!

I'm an American and I can't understand why the world is lagging in their initiative to work harder with their brains to compete with us.

I'm glad the prize is limited to the United States only. Why should we help boost the world up to our level without them helping themselves?

Sorry if I sound egotistical.

EDIT: I believe that the prize should at least be extended to Canada and the United Kingdom. They are English speaking and do work hard. I'd have no problem with this, as long as it would be a joint-venture between all three nations.

[edit on 16/3/05 by Intelearthling]

Intel_Earthling
I believe that the prize should at least be extended to Canada and the United Kingdom. They are English speaking and do work hard. I'd have no problem with this, as long as it would be a joint-venture between all three nations.

huh? your against all other languages & cultures? a lot of people in a lot of countries work hard, just because they are not at America's level doesn't mean there slackers.

Joint-Venture??? You do relize that this cant have any goverments involved right? This is to help get the everyday public into space, not to help unite countries in a common goal.

Well Canadian entrants will not be blocked. They just have to be based in the USA I believe. Which is why I said it would not hamper any Canadian entrants(if there will be any that is)

Originally posted by sardion2000
Well Canadian entrants will not be blocked. They just have to be based in the USA I believe. Which is why I said it would not hamper any Canadian entrants(if there will be any that is)

nope, its called the American Space Prize for a reason.

You have to have your place of business in the US, as well as live in the US.

Originally posted by Murcielago

Originally posted by sardion2000
Well Canadian entrants will not be blocked. They just have to be based in the USA I believe. Which is why I said it would not hamper any Canadian entrants(if there will be any that is)

nope, its called the American Space Prize for a reason.

You have to have your place of business in the US, as well as live in the US.

So how long do they have to be a resident for thats the key. But anyway it's not like I have any illusions as to who's gonna win. Who's your favorite to win Murc? Mine's SpaceX, due to the fact they are far ahead of the game, allthough I wouldn't count Rutan out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Beyond the Space Prize ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Americans In Orbit - 50 Years

ran across this site on morning radio, 'America in the Morning' on Westwood 1....

It seems there's a countdown going on.
A private group is still searching for an astronaut to recreate the
1962 Mercury flight of John Glenn..

--> scheduled for launch on the 50th Anniversary in 2012