It was a weighty decision, not taken lightly, but X Prize officials voted last week to bar a group attempting to harness gravity from entering the contest aimed at promoting space tourism.
The X Prize Foundation notified Gravity Control Technologies (GCT) of Budapest, Hungary that its application to become an X Prize team had not been accepted.
GCT was founded in 1999 and is a privately held aerospace research firm delving into superconductivity and Zero Point Energy Field physics in the hopes of achieving one-hundred percent propellant-less propulsion technology for flight.
The X Prize is a $10 million prize to jumpstart the space tourism industry through competition between entrepreneurs and rocket experts around the world. The purse is to be awarded to the first team that privately finances, builds and launches a spaceship able to carry three people to 62.5 miles (100 kilometers) altitude, then returns safely to Earth, repeating the launch with the same ship within two weeks.
Open/closed door decision
GCT is on a quest to prove the existence of an underlying sea of energy at every point in the universe predicted by Quantum physics. This sea of energy is different from the cosmic microwave background and is also referred to as the electromagnetic quantum vacuum, since it is the lowest state of otherwise empty space.
By utilizing a zero point field energy/superconductor-based propulsion system, GCT contends the door to space travel can truly be opened.
But in an X Prize Foundation letter to GCT, the rationale for closing the door on the group's X Prize team status is up-front.
"In light of the novel and untried technology you propose, the Committee has a concern of the credibility of this technology. The X Prize Foundation strongly encourages the use of all technologies for the X Prize competition. However, over the past years, we’ve been besieged by a variety of groups making technological claims that weren’t real," explains Ken Davidian, Director of Operations for the St. Louis, Missouri-based X Prize Foundation, in the letter to GCT.
"We will be happy to reconsider your application when provided with evidence of the feasibility of your proposed technology. We strongly encourage GCT to continue with its research and keep us posted as developments warrant our attention," the letter states.
Gravity of the situation
Asked to comment on the GCT situation, Gregg Maryniak, Executive Director of the X Prize Foundation told SPACE.com:
"Our policy is that we do not discuss pending applications. We only discuss them when they are approved," Maryniak said. "We have not accepted their [GCT's] application…and we haven't foreclosed the possibility of accepting their application," he said.
At present, there are 24 teams in seven countries that are officially registered as X Prize teams -- all vying for the $10 million purse, Maryniak said. "I'm ready to issue that check to somebody that actually does it."
Victor Rozsnyay, GCT's Founder and Chief Executive Officer, told SPACE.com he's not surprised by the X Prize Foundation decision and return of the $1,000 X Prize application fee.
"Since Gravity Control Technologies is working on developing propulsion systems capable of controlling gravity for flight -- a 180 degree departure from what is currently accepted as feasible -- it was likely that our application would not be approved. All other X Prize teams are developing variations of rocket technology, including some ingenious designs," Rozsnyay said.
Rozsnyay said that rocketry has been around for over half a century. That technology is tested and proven, he said. "Gravity control on the other hand does not -- and could not -- even exist according to traditional science," he explained.
Credibility level
One of the primarily goals of GCT research aims at introducing affordable, commercial scale space tourism vessels. A craft dubbed the "Space Tourist" would be capable of non-stop space excursions, carrying over a thousand people on each 8-hour flight.
Preliminary design specifications call for a triple deck craft equipped with "Hull Wide Propulsion Assembly" technology. Seating will be provided for 1004 passengers, 25 flight attendants, and operated by a three-person crew.
Given appropriate funding, GCT envisions flying an initial prototype of the Space Tourist around 2012.
"We feel that the X Prize committee acted in the best interest of the Foundation when rejecting our application," Rozsnyay said. "A certain level of credibility must be met for such a widely visible and respected organization. In the opinion of the X Prize Team Registration Committee, in its current stage of development, gravity control does not meet that credibility level."
Rozsnyay said the X Prize letter offers to review another GCT application - as long as the group shows evidence for the feasibility of their propulsion idea. "We will continue to work toward this goal, and when successful, resubmit our application," he said.
Rozsnyay said he thanks the X Prize for considering GCT's work and wished all the other teams in the race continued success.
"May the best one win the prize," Rozsnyay said.
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