Steven Bennett, chief executive officer of Starchaser Industries, designed the two-stage rocket to test the emergency escape system of his Thunderbird launch vehicle. The launch from Morcambe Bay, Britain is set for 6:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (10:00 GMT).
"Thursdays launch is pivotal for Starchaser to remain on track to win the X PRIZE," said Bennett, who is competing against 16 entrepreneurs and rocket experts from five countries to win the New Race to Space contest, held by the X PRIZE Foundation.
Winner expected by 2004 or earlier
To win the $10 million prize, a privately funded team must build and launch a spacecraft carrying three passengers to the edge of space 62 miles (100 kilometers) above Earth on two flights within two weeks.
A successful trial-run of the Thunderbirds escape capsule designed to boost a capsule carrying passengers up to 19,000 feet (about 4 miles or 6.5 kilometers) and then
parachute it to safety in an emergency could enable the first piloted launch as early as 2001, Bennett said in a statement.
Executive Director Gregg Maryniak said he expects someone to win the prize by 2004 or sooner.
X PRIZE, a nonprofit organization based in St. Louis, claims that the contest paves the way for
commercial space travel, including space tourism and, eventually, one-hour passenger trips to and from any two points on Earth.
Maryniak said the contest modeled after the prize that brought Charles Lindberghs 1927 flight leaves the specifics of designing the craft up to the contestants. "We dont pass judgment on their designs, but we look to see if people are serious and have some capability and [a] track record," he said.
Corporate support
Although Thursday's launch, if successful, would be Bennett's first multistage liftoff, it won financial backing from computer giant Microsoft and the Discovery Channel.
His 20-foot (6-meter) test rocket, the Starchaser-Discovery, is the most powerful
reusable research rocket ever built and flown in Europe, according to the X PRIZE Foundation. Eight of Starchasers 10 launches since 1992 have been successful, Bennett said.
Bennetts attempt follows the 1998 test flight of the
Proteus vehicle, a rocket designed by X PRIZE contender Burt Rutan that reached 50,000 feet (15,240 meters). Rutan, a California aircraft engineer, also was the first to design an airplane that flew around the world without refueling.
The other entrants come from Russia, Argentina, Germany and the United States.
advertisement
