HOUSTON, TX (October 16, 2002) – The St. Louis-based X PRIZE Foundation today announced the acceptance of two new teams into their $10 Million New Race to Space®: Armadillo Aerospace of Dallas, TX and ARDA of Bucharest, Romania. Dr. Peter H. Diamandis, Chairman and Founder of the X PRIZE, welcomed the newest entrants into the competition at a press conference at the World Space Congress in Houston, TX. Joining Diamandis at the announcement were John Carmack and his six-member Armadillo team, Pablo De Leon, X PRIZE competitor from Argentina, Dr. Dumitru-Dorin Pruanriu, President of the Romanian Space Agency,and Ms. Anousheh Ansari, newly-elected X PRIZE Trustee, Benefactor and business executive from Dallas, TX.
“The X PRIZE Competition was created to attract the best and brightest of today’s aerospace engineers to develop private spaceships for space tourism,” explained Diamandis. “I am thrilled to welcome Armadillo and ARDA into the race and particularly pleased about Pablo DeLeon’s announcement for a half-scale vehicle flight in March 2003. The total number of teams now registered to win the X PRIZE exceeds 20 from six nations: Argentina, Canada, Romania, Russia, UK, and the United States.”
To win the $10 million, teams must privately finance, build and fly a three-person spacecraft 100 km to the edge of space, return safely, and then demonstrate the reusability of their vehicle by flying it again within two-weeks.
Armadillo Aerospace enters the competition after more than two years ofdevelopment. “We are up to Lander design version 3.4, the fourth structural modification of our third generation Vertical Takeoff Vertical Lander (VTVL) demonstrator. We have used our various lander vehicles to develop and test the technologies that will be required for our X PRIZE vehicle. The engines are highly reusable, with some having nearly 2000 seconds of firing time. It commonly flies three times in one day,” said John Carmack, Founder & President of Armadillo Aerospace. “The market is there and the technology is there – and we have a great team. We fully expect to fly our vehicle and win the X PRIZE by 2004. ”
The Romanian team, Aeronautics and Cosmonautics Romanian Association (ARCA), is building a privately-funded vehicle called the ORIZONT which is a half-scale version of their intended X PRIZE vehicle. “We are very proud of this creative and talented group of engineers and entrepreneurs,” said Dr. Dumitru-Dorin Pruanriu, President of the Romanian Space Agency and Cosmonaut. “While the Romanian Space Agency is not involved in this effort, we are excited to see Romania field a team to the X PRIZE Competition.”
Pablo De Leon, President of De Leon Technologies and head of the Argentinean X PRIZE team today announced his plans for a half-scale launch of his Gauchito Vehicle during the first half of 2003. “We reached a number of important milestones since registering for the X PRIZE competition, including static motor firings, drop tests of scale model capsules from 96,000 feet and the demonstration of our privately-built spacesuits,” said De Leon. “Our plans to fly half-scale hardware in the first half of 2003 will allow us to begin testing our entire system and software.”
Finally, Anousheh Ansari, newly -elected X PRIZE Trustee and past CEO of Telecom Technologies, Inc., expressed her support for the X PRIZE. “I support the X PRIZE because I personally want to fly into space,” said Ms. Ansari. “It’s important for us encourage space entrepreneurs to help fulfill their dreams and the X PRIZE competition helps make that happen.” Ms. Ansari was listed on the 2001 Forbes 40 under 40, and was Entrepreneur of the Year in 2001 for the Southwest region.
The X PRIZE competition, the first-ever space-based incentive competition, follows in the footsteps of more than 100 aviation incentive prizes offered early last century, that created today’s $300 billion-dollar commercial air transport industry. The most significant of these prizes was the Orteig Prize, won by Charles Lindbergh for his 1927 flight from New York to Paris.
For additional information on the X PRIZE Foundation and Competition and all 20 teams from around the world, visit the X PRIZE Foundation on the web at www.xprize.org
Note to editors: Electronic images of the Armadillo and ARCA teams and all of the X PRIZE entries are available on the X PRIZE website (www.xprize.org) or by contacting Ian Murphy at 202-662-1280 or via email: press@xprize.org.
Video B Roll is available to the media upon request. Media contact onsite at World Space Congress is Diane Murphy: 626-429-0709; Booth #407.
THE NEW X PRIZE TEAMS
ARCA – Romania
- Ship Name: ORIZONT
- Team Leader: Dimitru Popescu
- Launch: Vertical from ground
- Landing: Ballistic reentry and parachute descent onto water
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 is powered by a Hydrogen Peroxide and Kerosene motor and 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.
Armadillo Aerospace – USA
- Ship Name: Black Armadillo
- Team Leader: John Carmack
- Nation: USA – Dallas, Texas
- Launch: Vertical from ground
- Landing: Ballistic reentry with rotor deceleration to a vertical landing
- Website: www.armadilloaerospace.com
Much technical detail of the Armadillo X PRIZE vehicle is not available because the vision of the vehicle has changed several times in significant ways. Intermediate vehicles remain to be build and test before construction begins on the X PRIZE craft. The design philosophy of the vehicle includes computer controlled vertical takeoff with a minimal amount of mechanical complexity. The current plan is to use a pressure fed, bipropellant (hydrogen peroxide and kerosene) rocket engine system. Armadillo has spent considerable time developing hydrogen peroxide monopropellant rocket engines at their own facility. More recently, time and research has been spent on bipropellant engines (primarily with hydrogen peroxide and kerosene). Static engine tests of up to 500 pounds per square inch of chamber pressure, 450 pounds of thrust, and 200 seconds of specific impulse have already been successfully conducted. Heat sink and regeneratively cooled engines are being researched and tested. Development of a single-person hovering vehicle is in progress, using the small monopropellant engines developed in-house. Successful manned flights of the 525 pound vehicle were conducted in late 2002. A two-foot diameter “tube rocket” is currently under development which is being used to test the use of rotors for braking and lift-generating purposes.
BIOGRAPHIC BACKGROUNDS
Ms. Anousheh Ansari,Trustee X PRIZE Foundation
Anousheh Ansari is Co-Founder of Prodea, Inc. She was previously General Manager and VP of the IntelligentIP division of Sonus Networks, formed in January 2001 through Sonus’ acquisition of Telecom Technologies, Inc. (TTI). Ms. Ansari founded TTI, a supplier of softswitch-based solutions for network and service providers offering end-to-end solutions for next generation, carrier-grade multi-service networks, in 1993, and as its CEO, turned it into a force in the telecommunication industry. Ms. Ansari was listed in the prestigious Forbes 40 under 40 in 2001.
Early in her career, Ms. Ansari held positions with MCI Telecommunications Corporation and Communication Satellite Corporation (COMSAT) in various engineering capacities. She worked on architectural design for SS7 and ISDN networks. Ms. Ansari was recognized by Working Woman magazine as the winner of the 2000 National Entrepreneurial Excellence award, and was chosen as the winner of the 1999 Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year, Southwest Region, for the Technology and Communications category. She has authored numerous technical papers and has two patents for her work on Automated Operator Services and Wireless Service Node. She was a U.S. delegate at ITU SG VII, SG XI and SG XVII, and a representative at American National Standard Institute T1S1 and T1X1 Technical Subcommittees.
Ms. Ansari holds a Master of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering from George Washington University and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from George Mason University. She is also a member of Eta Kappa Nu, IEEE and NSPE.
Mr. John Carmack, Co-founder and Chief Technical Engineer of id Software
John Carmack, Co-founder and Chief Technical Engineer of id Software, first made waves in the computer gaming world when his company, released Wolfenstein 3D in 1992. Powered by Carmack’s rendering code, Wolfenstein is considered by many to be the grandfather of the first person shooter. The next Carmack engine powered game was to become one of the most influential and successful computer games of all time – DOOM.
In 1996 id Software release Quake, John Carmack’s first fully 3D game engine. In addition to providing players with exciting game play, Quake’s improved network code and modification-friendly architecture garnered a huge following around the world and began a frenzy of on-line gaming competition. Quake established the standard for just about every first person shooter to date and is itself still widely played today. With the release of Quake II in 1997, id Software established itself as not only the company to watch for quality first person shooters but also as the premiere house for 3D game engine licensing. Games like Half-Life, Soldier of Fortune, Counterstrike and countless other games were based on John Carmack’s licensed engines.
Carmack’s seemingly infallible ability to lead the industry with 3D game engines proved true once again in 1999 with id Software’s release of Quake III Arena. Previously, 3D games included software mode, sacrificing graphics quality for mass consumption. John Carmack made a bold move by forsaking software for hardware power, pushing technologically forward once again. John Carmack and the id Software team are now hard at work on their next big game – DOOM III.
John Carmack and id Software have won many awards for their outstanding work in software technology and computer gaming over the years. In 2001, at the age of 31, John Carmack was awarded a Life Time Achievement Award by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences for the exceptional work in his field. Most recently, in 2002, an Honorary Award for Achievement was awarded to John Carmack and id Software by the Academy of Machinima Arts and Sciences.
A long-time rocketry enthusiast, John Carmack has been a regular contributor and supporter of amateur groups working toward sending civilians into space. Frustrated by the slow progress, Carmack decided to jump into the effort himself in his spare time. Leading a small team of dedicated enthusiasts with eclectic backgrounds, John Carmack founded Armadillo Aerospace in 2000.
In less than two years, the Armadillo team have accomplished more than some groups have in decades; and each successful achievement leads them to one of their goals. Armadillo Aerospace have set their sites on winning the X PRIZE, a prize established to encourage private groups to work towards sending civilians to space. John Carmack has already established himself one of the most distinguished careers in the world of computer games. His work in the field of Aerospace may win an equal amount of notoriety.
Pablo DeLeon, President, De Leon Technologies LLC, www.deleontechnologies.com
Mr. Pablo De León is an aerospace engineer with extensive experience in space project management. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina on November 12th, 1964, he is co-founder and President of the Argentine Association for Space Technology (AATE), a non-profit, non-governmental organization based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He is a graduate of the International Space University. He designed and constructed several pressure suits for use in EVA underwater simulation procedures. Mr. De León worked for two years at Kennedy Space Center, Florida USA, on behalf of the Argentine Association for Space Technology. Mr. De León flew 80 weightless parabolas aboard the NASA KC-135 airplane completing and testing experiments in Zero-G environment. In preparation for these experiments Mr. De León had pass strict medical screening and a special training course at the NASA Johnson Space Center. He was also, Payload Manager of the Project PADE the first Argentine-made payload to fly in the Space Shuttle, which flew in mission STS-108 in the orbiter Endeavor carrying 7 Argentine designed experiments in a very successful flight which paved the way for our own launches. He belongs to a number of professional aerospace engineering societies including the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, The Planetary Society, the National Space Society and the American Astronautical Society.
Dr. Peter H. Diamandis, Chairman and CEO, X PRIZE Foundation
Dr. Peter H. Diamandis is a successful entrepreneur and pioneer in the commercial space arena. Diamandis co-founded ZERO-G as a means to permit the public to experience the excitement of space on a first-hand basis.
Dr. Diamandis is the Chairman and CEO of the X PRIZE Foundation (www.xprize.org), a non-profit organization promoting the formation of a space-tourism industry through a $10M prize. Diamandis was a co-founder of Space Adventures, Ltd. (www.spaceadventures.com) a leading space travel and tourism company, and a co-Founder and chairman of Starport.com, a leading Internet site for Space Exploration, acquired by SPACE.com in 1990.
In 1987, Peter co-founded the International Space University (ISU) (www.isunet.edu) where he served as the University’s first managing director. Today he is a trustee of the $30M university located on its own campus in Strasbourg, France. While a student at MIT, Peter founded and served as chairman of Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS), the world’s largest student space organization.
Peter Diamandis received his undergraduate and graduate degrees in aerospace engineering from the MIT and a medical degree from Harvard Medical School. He has conducted research in a number of fields, including molecular genetics, space medicine, and launch vehicle design. He has received a number of awards, including MIT’s Kresge Award, the 1986 Space Industrialization Fellowship Award, the 1988 Aviation Week and Space Technology Laurel, the 1993 Space Frontier Foundation Pioneer Award, and the Russian 1995 K. E. Tsiolkovsky Award.
Ian Murphy
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