The X Prize Cup competition was part of a three-day rocket fest/air show/expo that took place at Holloman Air Force Base, NM, over the weekend. The event celebrated technologies that organisers hope will one day make space travel affordable and turn average people into astronauts.
The event revolved around an as-yet-unsuccessful NASA competition to develop and fly a reusable lunar lander. But there was plenty of interesting material on the sidelines.
Orbital Outfitters showed off a prototype of its first pressurised suit for the commercial space industry. The suit, called the IS(3)C for Industrial Suborbital Space Suit-Crew, is specifically designed for pilots who will staff an upcoming generation of suborbital rockets.
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On display was SpaceShipOne, the personal suborbital spacecraft that won the $10m (£5m) Ansari X Prize three years ago.
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Starchaser Industries displayed its 12-metre rocket. The company plans to send tourists up in the final version of its rocket -- which is designed to be twice as tall as this model -- by 2010 from the developing space hub Spaceport America in Las Cruces, NM.
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Allen Newcomb is an aerospace engineer with Tarsana, California-based BonNova, one of the teams that was registered to compete in the lunar challenge but didn't fly because it didn't clear FAA safety regulations. Made of carbon fibre, the low-to-the-ground craft (next to Newcomb) weighs 27 kilograms and has a liquid fuel engine powered by kerosene and nitrous oxide.
"It's a difficult process to do the engineering tests and get FAA approvals. But we'll compete next year," Newcomb said.
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Denver-based Micro-Space couldn't compete in the lunar challenge for the second time in two years because it wasn't able to meet FAA safety requirements.
Led by aerospace engineer Richard Speck (pictured here), the team's craft is powered by a bi-propellant engine (fueled partly by hydrogen peroxide) and comprised of several tubes made of Kevlar, graphite and epoxy. It hasn't left the ground "but we've successfully tested the motors," said engineering technician Bruce Bahnmiller.
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A father-and-son team from Solana Beach, California, built this lunar craft in less than a year in their garage. The craft -- which is two metres tall and weighs just less than 454 kilograms -- is powered by liquid oxygen.
Paul Breed, the father of the team, called Unreasonable Rocket, said they haven't flown the craft yet but they're hoping to have it ready for next year.
Nevertheless, he said, "this is proof that a couple of guys in a garage can do something significant."
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Armadillo Aerospace's MOD, which is four metres tall, is a computer-controlled liquid oxygen rocket vehicle. At launch, it weighs 635 kilograms. It's guided by GPS, among other aides. The company said that the MOD is a precursor to modular vehicles it plans to use to send tourists into surborbital space one day.
The work of Armadillo -- founded by Doom creator John Carmack -- impressed the crowd on Saturday by flying MOD for more than 90 seconds and landing. But the craft couldn't perform the same feat twice, as required, and failed to win NASA's challenge worth $350,000 (£169,000). The MOD was the only vehicle out of nine registered teams that actually competed for the prize.
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For the first time ever, Holloman Air Force Base pilots showed off to the public the F22 Raptor, the stealth fighter plane that will replace the retired F-117 Nighthawk, which was the first US government aircraft to use stealth technology. During the show, the Raptor flew vertically to 12,000 metres in less than a minute. The plane, which is housed at Holloman, can conduct air-to-air or air-to-land missions.
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Laramie, Wyoming-based SpeedUp built a hydrogen-peroxide-powered rocket called Laramie Rose. Likely too heavy to fly on the moon, the computer-controlled vehicle did not launch at the competition. But SpeedUp plans to fly it next year, according to the company's president, Robert Steinke, who also developed software for the Mars Explorer rover mission at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab.
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Two thin rockets on display at the expo were made by Art Hoag, an engineering student from Colorado. The one on the left flew 3,800 metres on 18 September 2005, on Hoag's 18th birthday.
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The Navy plane pictured is a T45 jet, which was flown into the event by one of the Rocket Racing League's new members, Navy Lt. Bryan Schwartz. He plans to race in the RRL's competitions in 2009 as part of Team Xtreme.
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The Rocket Racing League, a Nascar for rockets, plans to use this newly finished four-seat aircraft as its standard racing vehicle. The rocket was designed and built by Mojave, California-based XCOR Aerospace.
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Pictured here is a HH-6OG Pave Hawk, a combat search-and-rescue helicopter that is used for other military operations as well. Built in 1982 by military contractor United Technologies for about $9.3m (£4.5m), the helicopter is five metres tall and 20 metres long. It can fly up to 341 kilometres per hour.
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The 'Pacific Prowler', a North American B-25, was commissioned in 1942 for the Air Force. It flew two missions against the Japanese and is credited with sinking four ships and destroying two planes. After the war, it became VIP transportation and a prop in movies like For Whom the Bell Tolls.
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An aerial tanker, this Boeing-made plane weighs 238,000 kilograms and has a wingspan of 50 metres. It cost about $88.4m (£43m) to build in 1981. It's based at Travis Air Force Base in California.
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This Sailplane flew Saturday during the air show. With no engine of its own, another plane pulled the craft up 2,800 metres and then released it. Weighing about 499 kilograms, the two-seater plane can fly for up to two hours in the right winds.
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Google hosted an exhibitor booth at the X Prize Cup this weekend, with displays that let people test its mapping application Google Earth and its new Google Sky. That latter lets people view constellations, planets, moons and the like in finer detail.
Google also recently put up $30m (£15m) to sponsor the Lunar X Prize, a contest to put a robotic rover on the moon and send data and images back home. The search giant promoted the contest as part of its exhibit.
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