The moniker refers to the $10 million Ansari X Prize claimed last year by a joint venture headed by aircraft designer Burt Rutan and financier Paul Allen, a co-founder of Microsoft.

Their vessel, SpaceShipOne, successfully completed a test flight and then a pair of prize-qualifying missions to the edge of space with a solo pilot aboard.

The final two X Prize flights included ballast to match the weight of two passengers, because competition regulations stipulated the money would be awarded to the first team to fly a three-person craft to sub-orbital altitude twice within two weeks.

SpaceShipOne's final flight was on Oct. 4, an anniversary project organizers intend to mark this year with the introduction of the X Prize Cup.

Billed as a cross between Grand Prix auto racing, the America's Cup sailboat race and the Olympics, the exhibition is being designed to showcase private commercial human spaceflight, with demonstrations, races and other competitions.

It will take at least a year to prepare for actual launches, so as a debut program, organizers at the X Prize Foundation are putting together a five-day event called "Countdown to the X Prize Cup," to be held in Los Cruces, N.M., from Oct. 4-9.

"We're not going to launch anything in 2005," X Prize Foundation spokesman Ian Murphy told UPI's Space Race 2, "but there will be flight demonstrations."

Exactly which, if any, X Prize contenders plan to participate is not yet known, but a spokeswoman with Rutan's firm, Scaled Composites in Mojave, Calif., told Space Race 2 they were planning to take a pass.

Rutan's firm presently is designing a commercial version of SpaceShipOne for Virgin Atlantic Airways, which plans to operate a fleet of private sub-orbital vessels for well-heeled and adventurous tourists.

Tickets to ride aboard the Virgin Galactic spaceliners will cost about $200,000, company officials said.

Meanwhile, SpaceShipOne is headed for retirement at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., later this year - after going on display temporarily at the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2005, the annual gathering of the Experimental Aircraft Association, to be held in Oshkosh, Wis., July 25-31.

Events for this year's X Prize Cup introduction include demonstration flights of reusable space vehicles designed by future cup contenders, as well as displays and flight simulations of some of the spacecraft.

The venue also will give participants a chance to meet astronauts, spacecraft designers and X Prize leaders and pilots. The admission fee for the event has not yet been determined.

Related activities include an education day at the Alamogordo Space History Museum, designed for "New Mexico's next generation of engineers, pilots, astronauts and space entrepreneurs," according the X Prize Foundation Web site.

X Prize founder and chief executive officer Peter Diamandis also plans to offer rides aboard an airplane that simulates weightless by flying steep parabolas. The plane is owned by another of Diamandis' ventures, Zero Gravity Corp. of Dania, Fla.

New Mexico plans to host not only the introductory X Prize program, but also all future exhibitions. The state won a competition in 2004 for the rights, defeating finalists Florida, California and Oklahoma.

New Mexico is spending $9 million to develop space-launch and landing facilities, as well as related support installations at the proposed Southwest Regional Spaceport in Upham, located near Las Cruces.

The spaceport is expected to begin operations in 2007 or 2008. Until then, the X Prize Cup is expected to held at the White Sands Missile Range, although some licensing issues are still pending.

"The 'Countdown to the X Prize Cup' begins a new era for New Mexico," said Rick Homans, New Mexico Economic Development Department secretary, at a news conference last week announcing the event.

"It puts us on the ground floor of the whole new commercial space travel industry."

Organizers anticipate the X Prize Cup will stimulate creativity in space transportation by offering cash prizes in about a dozen competitions. Proposed contests include:

- Quickest turnaround. The race starts with servicing the vehicle for flight and boarding the pilot and passengers, and ends with the safe return of the vehicle to the "finish line" after reaching an altitude of 62 miles (100 kilometers) above sea level.

Limitations on thrust-to-total-weight ratios will be set. Competitions could be held for unpiloted as well as piloted vessels.

--Highest altitude. The race is judged by the highest altitude above 100 kilometers that is achieved during one of three flights carried out during the week-long event.

- Most passengers to space in a single flight. The winner carries the highest number of passengers to a minimum altitude of 100 kilometers with a safe return of the vehicle, crew and passengers.

- Greatest cross-range. The object is to fly the greatest distance from takeoff to landing, while still achieving a minimum peak altitude of 100 kilometers.

The foundation also is considering awarding trophies for vehicle design, artistic skill and creativity, as well as for best mechanical design; best avionics; most innovative technology; most innovative designs for maintainability, safety and passengers; and, coolest vehicle design.

The foundation will award cash prizes in each competition, with the X Prize Cup - and an additional cash prize - going to the team with the highest number of points accumulated for all the races.

Space Race 2 is a weekly series exploring the people, passions and business of sub-orbital manned spaceflight, by long-time aerospace journalist Irene Klotz. E-mail: [email protected]

All rights reserved. � 2005 United Press International. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by United Press International. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of United Press International.

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