View source for Ansari X Prize

{{Short description|Space competition and award}}
{{about|the sub-orbital human spaceflight contest|other [[:Category:X Prizes|X Prizes]]|X Prize Foundation}}
{{Infobox award
| name           = Ansari X Prize
| current_awards =
| image          = Space Ship One and White Knight - Flickr - Beige Alert.jpg
| imagesize      =
| alt            = SpaceShipOne in flight
| caption        = The winning [[spaceplane]] [[SpaceShipOne]] being carried below its launch vehicle [[Scaled Composites White Knight|White Knight]]
| awarded_for    = "build and launch a [[crewed spaceflight|spacecraft capable of carrying three people]] to [[outer space|100 kilometers above]] the [[Earth]]'s surface, twice within two weeks"<ref name="xprize">{{cite web|title=Ansari X Prize|url=http://space.xprize.org/ansari-x-prize|access-date=2010-09-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100923001722/http://space.xprize.org/ansari-x-prize|archive-date=23 September 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| presenter      = [[X PRIZE Foundation]]
| country        = Worldwide
| location       =
| reward         = [[US$]]10 million<ref name="xprize" />
| year           =
| year2          = October 4, 2004
| winner         = [[Scaled Composites]]
| website        = [http://ansari.xprize.org ansari.xprize.org]
|image2=Ansari X Prize logo.png}}
{{Private spaceflight}}
The '''Ansari X Prize''' was a [[space competition]] in which the [[X Prize Foundation]] offered a [[United States dollar|US$]]10,000,000 ({{Inflation|US|10,000,000|1996|r=0|fmt=eq}}) [[prize]] for the first [[Non-governmental organization|non-government organization]] to launch a reusable [[crewed spaceflight|crewed spacecraft]] into [[outer space|space]] twice within two weeks.  It was modeled after early 20th-century [[aviation]] prizes, and aimed to spur development of low-cost spaceflight.<ref name="xprize">{{cite web|title=Ansari X Prize|url=http://space.xprize.org/ansari-x-prize|access-date=2010-09-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100923001722/http://space.xprize.org/ansari-x-prize|archive-date=23 September 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Created in May 1996 and initially called just the "'''X Prize'''", it was renamed the "Ansari X Prize" on May 6, 2004, following a multimillion-dollar [[donation]] from [[entrepreneur]]s [[Anousheh Ansari]] and [[Amir Ansari]].

The prize was won on October 4, 2004, the 47th anniversary of the [[Sputnik 1]] launch, by the [[Scaled Composites Tier One|Tier One]] project designed by [[Burt Rutan]] and financed by Microsoft co-founder [[Paul Allen]], using the experimental [[spaceplane]] [[SpaceShipOne]].  $10 million was awarded to the winner, and more than $100 million was invested in new technologies in pursuit of the prize.<ref name="xprize">{{cite web|title=Ansari X Prize|url=http://space.xprize.org/ansari-x-prize|access-date=2010-09-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100923001722/http://space.xprize.org/ansari-x-prize|archive-date=23 September 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Several other [[X Prize]]s have since been announced by the [[X Prize Foundation]], promoting further development in [[space exploration]] and other technological fields.

==Motivation==
The X Prize was inspired by the [[Orteig Prize]]—the 1919 prize worth 25,000 dollars offered by New York hotel owner [[Raymond Orteig]] that encouraged a number of intrepid aviators in the mid-1920s to fly across the [[Atlantic Ocean]] from New York to Paris—which was ultimately won in 1927 by [[Charles Lindbergh]] in his aircraft ''[[Spirit of St. Louis]]''.<ref>{{cite web|title=To solve big problems, sometimes you need a contest|first=Molly|last=Wood |url=https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-tech/to-solve-big-problems-sometimes-you-need-a-contest/
|date=May 10, 2021|website=marketplace.org|access-date=January 28, 2023}}</ref> In reading the 1953 book, ''[[The Spirit of St. Louis (book)|The Spirit of St. Louis]]'' during 1994, [[Peter Diamandis]] realized that "such a prize, updated and offered ... as a ''space'' prize, might be just what was needed to bring space travel to the general public, to jump-start a commercial space industry."<!-- emphasis in original --><ref name=belfiore2007>
{{cite book |last1=Belfiore|first1=Michael |title=Rocketeers: how a visionary band of business leaders, engineers, and pilots is boldly privatizing space |date=2007 |publisher=Smithsonian Books |location=New York |isbn=978-0-06-114903-0 |page=<!-- use 'rp' template following to allow multiple reference --> |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u6NlCK_8h_4C |access-date=2014-12-28 }}</ref>{{rp|15–17}}

Diamandis developed a fully formed idea for a "suborbital space [[barnstorming]] prize", and set an initial goal of finding backers to support a {{USD|10 million}} prize.  He named it the X Prize, in part because "X" could serve as a variable for the name of the person who might later back the prize; any craft built to win the prize would be experimental, and a long line of experimental aircraft built for the US Air Force had been so designated, including the [[X-15]] that was, [[X-15 Flight 90|in 1963]], the first government-built craft to carry a human into space; and because "Ten is the [[Roman numeral]] X".<ref name=belfiore2007/>{{rp|17}}

The X Prize was publicly proposed by Diamandis in an address to the [[National Space Society|NSS]] [[International Space Development Conference]] in 1995.  The competition goal was adopted from the [[SpaceCub]] project, demonstration of a private vehicle capable of flying a pilot to the edge of space, defined as 100&nbsp;km altitude.  This goal was selected to help encourage the space industry in the [[private sector]], which is why the entries were not allowed to have any government funding. It aimed to demonstrate that [[spaceflight]] can be affordable and accessible to corporations and civilians, opening the door to [[Private spaceflight|commercial spaceflight]] and [[space tourism]]. It is also hoped that competition will breed [[innovation]], introducing new low-cost methods of reaching [[Geocentric orbit|Earth orbit]], and ultimately pioneering low-cost [[Spaceflight|space travel]] and unfettered [[space colonization|human expansion]] into the [[Solar System]].

[[NASA]] is developing a similar prize program called [[Centennial Challenges]] to generate innovative solutions to [[space technology]] problems.

==Contestants==
Twenty-six teams from around the world participated, ranging from volunteer hobbyists to large corporate-backed operations:<ref>{{cite news|title=Go for Launch! X Prize Foundation Announces Teams Ready to Compete for $10 Million
|date=July 28, 2004|url=https://phys.org/news/2004-07-prize-foundation-teams-ready-million.html|website=phys.org|access-date=February 12, 2023}}</ref>
{{columns-list|colwidth=33em|
* Acceleration Engineering
* Advent Launch Services – [http://www.adventlaunchservices.com/ website]
* [[ARCA (NGO)|ARCA]] – [https://web.archive.org/web/20080704105702/http://www.arcaspace.ro/ website]
* [[Armadillo Aerospace]] – [https://web.archive.org/web/20080702190816/http://www.armadilloaerospace.com/ website]
* American Astronautics Corporation (AERA) – [http://www.aeraspace.com/ website]
* [[Bristol Spaceplanes|Bristol Spaceplanes Limited]] – [http://www.bristolspaceplanes.com/ website]
* [[Canadian Arrow]]
* The [[da Vinci Project]] 
* Pablo de Leon & Associates – [http://www.pablodeleon.com website]
* Discraft Corporation
* Flight Exploration
* Fundamental Technology Systems
* High Altitude Research Corporation – [http://www.harcspace.com/ website]
* IL Aerospace Technologies – [http://www.ilat.net/ website]
* [[Interorbital Systems]] – [http://www.interorbital.com/ website]
* Kelly Space and Technology – [http://www.kellyspace.com/ website]
* Lone Star Space Access Corporation – [http://www.lonestarspace.com/ website]
* Micro-Space, Inc. – [https://web.archive.org/web/20040925024744/http://www.micro-space.com/ website]
* [[Len Cormier]]'s PanAero, Inc. – [http://www.tour2space.com/ website]
* [[Pioneer Rocketplane]] – [http://www.rocketplane.com/ website]
* [[Scaled Composites]]' [[Scaled Composites Tier One|Tier One]] project – '''Winning Team'''
* [[Space Transport Corporation]]
* [[Starchaser Industries]] – [http://www.starchaser.co.uk/ website]
* Suborbital Corporation
* TGV Rockets – [http://www.tgv-rockets.com/ website]
* Vanguard Spacecraft
* Whalen Aeronautics Inc.
}}

Some sources mention two other companies:
* AeroAstro*
* Cerulean Freight Forwarding Co.,
but do not mention Whalen Aeronautics Inc.<ref name=":0">{{cite web|url=http://www.astronaut.ru/suborb/xprise/xprise.htm|title=X-Prize|publisher=Astronaut.ru|access-date=28 December 2014}}</ref>

==Winning team==

The [[Scaled Composites Tier One|Tier One]] project made two successful competitive flights: [[SpaceShipOne flight 16P|X1]] on September 29, 2004, piloted by [[Mike Melvill]] to 102.9&nbsp;km; and [[SpaceShipOne flight 17P|X2]] on October 4, 2004, piloted by [[Brian Binnie]] to 112&nbsp;km.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3712998.stm|title=SpaceShipOne rockets to success|work=BBC News|date=7 October 2005|access-date=9 December 2010| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101028134020/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3712998.stm| archive-date= 28 October 2010 | url-status= live}}</ref>  They thus won the prize, which was awarded on November 6, 2004. In press coverage, the winning team has been variously referred to as [[Mojave Aerospace Ventures]], the corporation that funded the attempt; [[Scaled Composites Tier One|Tier One]], the project name of Mojave's contest entry; and [[Scaled Composites]], the manufacturer of the craft.

At least two documentaries were created to document the efforts of the winning team to win the prize. They included Black Sky: The Race for Space<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0436126/ |title=Black Sky: The Race for Space |website=imdb.com|access-date=February 13, 2023}}</ref> and Black Sky: Winning the X Prize.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0444961/ |title=Black Sky: Winning the X Prize|website=imdb.com|access-date=February 13, 2023}}</ref> The documentaries chronicle the story of Burt Rutan and SpaceShipOne.

As of 2011, the trophy is on display in the [[Saint Louis Science Center]] in [[St. Louis, Missouri]].
<gallery mode=packed heights="165px">
Image:Ansari X-Prize Check.jpg|Representatives of the X Prize Foundation symbolically presented the ten million dollar prize to [[Burt Rutan]] and [[Paul Allen]] of [[Mojave Aerospace Ventures]] on November 6, 2004.  The Ansari X Prize trophy is on the left.
File:Flight 16P taxi pre-launch photo Don Ramey Logan.jpg|[[SpaceShipOne]] Flight 16P taxi pre launch
File:Mike Melvill and Burt Rutan speak to the media after the first flight into Space photo Don Ramey Logan.jpg|[[Mike Melvill]] and [[Burt Rutan]] speak to the media after the first flight into space
</gallery>

== Unsuccessful attempts ==
Although only the Tier One team actually launched a spacecraft on a [[sub-orbital spaceflight]], several other teams have conducted low-altitude tests or announced future plans to launch into space:<ref name="belfiore2007" />
* [[ARCA (NGO)|ARCA]] launched Demonstrator 2B rocket on September 9, 2004, at Cape Midia Air Force Base in [[Romania]]. It was the first flight of a reusable monopropellant rocket.
* The [[da Vinci Project]] originally announced that their first flight would be on October 2, 2004, but this was postponed indefinitely on September 23, 2004, as they were unable to obtain a few necessary components in time. No flight ever occurred.
* The [[Canadian Arrow]] team conducted a successful full-power engine test in 2005 and announced on June 2, 2005, that it had received permission from the Canadian government to use [[Cape Rich]] as a future launch site.
* On August 8, 2004, Space Transport Corporation's ''Rubicon 1'' and [[Armadillo Aerospace]]'s unnamed test vehicle, in two separate uncrewed test launches, both crashed and were destroyed.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3549552.stm |title=(Rubicon 1 un-manned test) X-prize contender rocket explodes|date=August 9, 2004|access-date=February 13, 2023}}</ref>
* On February 15, 2005, AERA Corporation (formerly American Astronautics) announced its plans to send seven paying passengers into space as early as 2006, a full year before the first announced speculative [[Virgin Galactic]] flight.

==List of major donors by amount==
*[[Anousheh Ansari]] and [[Amir Ansari]], the official sponsors of the competition.<ref name="belfiore2007" /><ref name=":0" />
*First USA ([[J.P. Morgan Chase]]), [[US$]]1,000,000
*New Spirit of St. Louis Organization
*[[Danforth Foundation]], US$500,000
*[[Tom Clancy]], $100K&ndash;US$500,000
*[[James Smith McDonnell|J.S. McDonnell]] ([[McDonnell Douglas]])
*Andrew Taylor ([[Enterprise Rent-A-Car]])
*[[Andrew Beal]] (Beal Bank)
*[[St. Louis Science Center]]

==Organization==
{{main|X Prize Foundation}}
With the Ansari X Prize, the [[X Prize Foundation]] (based in Santa Monica, CA) established a philanthropic model in which offering a prize for achieving a specific goal stimulates entrepreneurial investment that produces a tenfold or greater return on the prize purse and at least one hundredfold in follow-on investment and social benefit.  The Foundation has developed into a non-profit prize institute that conceives, designs and manages public competitions for the benefit of humanity.

==Funding==
The funding for the [[United States dollar|US $]]10,000,000 [[prize]] was unconventional. It came from a "[[hole-in-one insurance]] policy".<ref>{{Cite web|title=SpaceShipOne wins $10 million X Prize|url=http://www.nbcnews.com/id/6167761/ns/technology_and_science-space/t/spaceshipone-wins-million-x-prize/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130204055036/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/6167761/ns/technology_and_science-space/t/spaceshipone-wins-million-x-prize/|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 4, 2013|first=Alan |last=Boyle|date=2004-10-05|website=msnbc.com|language=en|access-date=2020-06-01}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=SpaceShipOne wins $10 million X Prize|date=October 3, 2004|first=Alan |last=Boyle|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna6167761|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201030015150/https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna6167761|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 30, 2020|publisher=NBC News|access-date=February 12, 2023|quote=The $10 million will be paid, not by the X Prize Foundation, but by the insurance company the group dealt with in what's known as a "hole-in-one" insurance policy, similar to those taken out by golf courses for tournaments.}}</ref> It was "fully funded through January 1, 2005, through private donations and backed by an insurance policy to guarantee that the $10 million is in place on the day that the prize is won."<ref>{{cite web |title=An Interview with Peter Diamandis|date=2003-03-01|access-date=2010-01-22|url=http://www.hobbyspace.com/AAdmin/archive/Interviews/Advocacy/PeterDiamandis.html| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100207035241/http://hobbyspace.com/AAdmin/archive/Interviews/Advocacy/PeterDiamandis.html| archive-date= 7 February 2010 | url-status= live}}</ref>

==Spin-offs==
The success of the X Prize competition has spurred spin-offs that are set up in the same way. There have been two major spin-offs at this point, the first of which is the [[Methuselah Mouse Prize|M Prize]] (short for Methuselah Mouse Prize), which is a prize set up by [[University of Cambridge]] [[biogerontology|biogerontologist]] [[Aubrey de Grey]] which will go to the scientific team that successfully extends the life or reverses the aging of mice, which would then eventually be available to humans. The second is the NASA [[Centennial Challenges]], which consist of (among others) the [[Tether Challenge]] in which teams compete to develop superstrong tethers as a component to [[space elevator]]s, and the [[Beam Power Challenge]] which encourages ideas for transmitting power wirelessly. An independent spin-off called the [[N-Prize]] was started by [[Cambridge]] [[Microbiologist]] Paul H. Dear in 2007, designed to foster research into low-cost orbital launchers.

The X Prize foundation itself is developing additional prizes: the [[Archon X Prize]], to advance research in the field of [[genomics]]; the [[Automotive X Prize]], an engineering competition to create a fuel efficient clean car;<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.socaltech.com/fullstory/0003465.html |title=Interview with Mark Goodstein, Executive Director of the Automotive X Prize on new energy X Prize|access-date=January 28, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.xprize.org/prizes/auto |title=Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize|access-date=February 13, 2023}}</ref> the [[Wirefly X Prize Cup]], an annually held air & space exposition featuring space-related competitions and rocketry, and the [[Google Lunar X Prize]], a competition for privately funded lunar exploration. Of several awards on offer, the largest—$20 million—will be awarded to the first privately funded team to produce a robot that lands on the [[Moon]] and travels 500&nbsp;m (1,640&nbsp;ft) across its surface.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Guinness World Records 2014|last=Glenday|first=Craig|year=2013|isbn=978-1-908843-15-9|pages=[https://archive.org/details/guinnessworldrec0000unse_r3e7/page/184 184]|url=https://archive.org/details/guinnessworldrec0000unse_r3e7/page/184}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.xprize.org/prizes/google-lunar|title =THE NEW SPACE RACE}}</ref>

There is also a possible "[[H-Prize]]", focused on [[hydrogen vehicle]] research, although this goal has been addressed by [[H.R. 5143]], an X-Prize-inspired bill passed by the [[United States House of Representatives]], which was later folded into the [[Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007]].<ref>{{cite web |title=H.R.5143 - H-Prize Act of 2006|date=11 May 2006|access-date=2015-10-11|url=https://www.congress.gov/bill/109th-congress/house-bill/5143|publisher=Congress.gov}}</ref>

==See also==
{{commons category|Ansari X-Prize}}
Ansari X Prize:
* [[Scaled Composites Tier One|Tier One]]: [[SpaceShipOne]] + [[WhiteKnightOne]]
* ''[[Black Sky: The Race For Space]]'' (2004 telefim) Discovery Channel documentary about the Ansari X Prize
* ''[[How to Make a Spaceship]]'' (2016 book) by Julian Buthrie, about the Ansari X Prize

Similar topics:
* NASA [[Centennial Challenges]]
* [[Orteig Prize]]
* [[America's Space Prize]]
* [[Methuselah Mouse Prize]], or M Prize (modeled after the Ansari X Prize)
* [[N-Prize]], a low-budget orbital satellite insertion challenge
* [[List of space technology awards]]
* [[List of challenge awards]]
* [[List of awards named after people]]

Related technical topics:
* [[Specific impulse]]
* [[Tsiolkovsky rocket equation]]
* [[Delta-v]]

{{Portal bar|Aviation|United States|Spaceflight}}

==Further reading==
* "The X Prize", an article by Ian Parker on pages 52–63 of the 4 October 2004 issue of ''[[The New Yorker]]''

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060913222925/http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/331/ X Prize founder talks about the prize and the future of space travel (MIT Video)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20041017184430/http://www.fai.org:81/sporting_code/sc08.pdf FAI Rules for Astronautic Record Attempts]

{{Ansari X-Prize}}
{{Challenges by the X PRIZE Foundation}}
{{Space tourism}}
{{Scaled Composites}}

[[Category:Ansari X Prize| ]]
[[Category:Challenge awards]]
[[Category:Space-related awards]]
[[Category:Private spaceflight]]
[[Category:X Prizes]]