Rocket engines will be blazing away in New Mexico this October at the X Prize Cup, but as the big day approaches, rocketeers are adjusting their plans to accommodate engineering realities. Some of the vehicles will look much different from what was originally planned, and others just might have to sit this one out. It all goes to show why “rocket science” is the stereotypical term for anything difficult to do.
For instance, at one point the Rocket Racing League was hoping to present the debut of its first X-Racer, a rocket-powered racing plane that would provide the basis for flashy competitions starting next year. California-based XCOR Aerospace is in the process of converting a Velocity airplane for kerosene-fueled rocket power.
Rocket Racing League |
Artist's conception shows X-Racer in the air. |
The X-Racer still could be ready to go for the Oct. 20-21 event – but the racing league's management is leaning against a rocket-powered debut at that time.
A spokesman for the X Prize Foundation, Ian Murphy, said on Wednesday that the debut might be delayed because “it looks like XCOR’s a little nervous about rushing this.” But Granger Whitelaw, the league's chief executive officer, said the decision had to do with business strategy rather than technological concerns.
"Everything is going fabulously with XCOR," he told me in a Thursday follow-up. "We've had five test firings, all going extremely well."
Even if the X-Racer doesn't go into the air, the Rocket Racing League would offer other goodies at the X Prize Cup – such as a static firing of the rocket engine, a display of the non-rocket-powered Velocity prototype and demonstrations of the X-Racer flight simulation software. Whitelaw said further details would be released soon.
Another X Prize highlight will be the Lunar Lander Challenge, in which teams will compete for $2 million to $3 million in prizes. The teams are working on remote-controlled, rocket-powered contraptions that would take off vertically, then fly over to a target area for landing, like NASA’s lunar lander did back in the Apollo era.
The competition has been broken down into two tracks: The easier contest, now known as the Vertical Lander Challenge, calls for a 90-second flight and will provide a smooth, level landing pad. The more difficult Lunar Lander Challenge requires three minutes of flight and would force the competitors to land their craft on a sloped, uneven patch of terrain strewn with boulders as big as 3 feet (1 meter) across.
Armadillo Aerospace |
The "Quad" would take off and land vertically. |
That last twist led Texas-based Armadillo Aerospace to change the look of its contest entry entirely – from the conical “Vertical Drag Racer” to the squat, four-tanked “Quad” design. It turns out that the VDR just might tip over during a Lunar Lander Challenge touchdown, due to the design’s high center of gravity. Something like that happened during last year’s X Prize Cup demonstration. And as Firesign Theater’s comics have observed in a different context, it's no fun to fall right over. It won’t win a million-dollar prize, either.
Speaking of money, another question has to do with the total purse for the two challenges. This uncertainty has nothing to do with rocket science, and everything to do with political science.
NASA already has put up $2 million as part of its Centennial Challenges program. The Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, was supposed to kick in still more money (the rumored figures have ranged from $500,000 to $1 million).
However, Murphy said that the Senate’s version of a bill funding DARPA does not provide authorization for prize money (like, say, the $2 million purse for last year’s highly successful DARPA Grand Challenge). The House version would give authorization, but just to be safe, DARPA is hanging back on its commitment until the legislative differences are worked out, Murphy said.
If DARPA comes through with its contribution to the purse, that money would go to the Vertical Lander Challenge, which could spawn down-to-earth delivery technologies for the military. NASA’s $2 million would go to the Lunar Lander Challenge’s purse. But if the DARPA money isn’t there, Murphy said, the NASA money would be spread over both challenges - $500,000 for the Vertical Lander Challenge, and $1.5 million for the Lunar Lander Challenge.
DARPA spokeswoman Jan Walker confirmed the holdup on prize money Thursday – a situation that affects the agency's Urban Challenge for robotic vehicles as well:
"We have been aware of the congressional language issue for some time. During our May 2006 Urban Challenge Participants Conference, we advised attendees of the issue, and indicated that the worst case might be that we wouldn't have the authority to award cash prizes. We told them that it would be our plan in that case to award trophies to the winners. We also told them that no one should spend any effort on the Urban Challenge if they needed to have cash prizes instead of trophies.
"We had also been in discussions with the X Prize Foundation regarding sponsoring the Vertical Takeoff Challenge X Prize, but have put this on hold given the current uncertainty. At this time, DARPA will not sponsor any of the X Prize competitions."
The inner workings of the federal government figure in yet another key question: Who exactly will be allowed to compete in the rocket challenges?
Regulations require the teams to get experimental permits from the Federal Aviation Administration – and New Mexico’s Las Cruces Airport, the site of this year’s festivities, would need to be licensed as well.
Fortunately, the regulatory process appears to be on track. FAA environmental specialist Stacey Zee told me that the agency has received all the required applications; and that a draft environmental assessment is due for release in August for a 30-day public review. That follows the pattern we’ve seen for the Blue Origin rocket venture backed by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos. (Check the FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation Web site for the document when it's available.)
Zee said this draft report would cover all the teams as well as the airport itself, and will find that “there is no potential for significant [environmental] impact.”
Unless an unforeseen deal-breaker arises, it sounds as if the red tape will be cleared away just in time for the X Prize Cup’s final countdown.
For updates on the X Prize Cup (including yet another NASA-backed competition, the Space Elevator Games), keep an eye out for the event’s soon-to-be-relaunched Web site. And for the latest lunar lander lowdown, check in with Robin Snelson’s Lunar Lander Challenge Weblog.
Update for 3:12 p.m. ET July 27: I added the comments from Whitelaw to make it clear that the X-Racer debut depended on business rather than technological considerations, as well as Walker's comments on the holdup in prize money.
