Will the X-Cup be a commercial success?

I like the idea of having a NASCAR of rockets. Car races bore me but I'd definately stay glued to the set for rocket launches in anticipation of those spectacular mishaps. I think this contest could be even better than one time prizes like the X-prize for inducing advancement of rocket technology and motivating companies to create more "off the shelf" technology that would lower rocket building costs for other applications.

I think it's a great idea. The trick will be to make it exciting, and I'm not sure that rocket launches can be both exciting and safe. If one team is having problems getting their rocket to start, you don't want to jeopardize their safety.

NASA and other commercial space launches will often takes days of delays before a rocket actually gets into space. I'm not sure people will have the patience to watch something like that live.

Maybe if the X-Prize did something like the Eco-Challenge and had an experienced directory/editor pull it all together after the fact and run it documentary style on the Discovery Channel, etc, it might be pretty gripping.

I think it'd help tremondously if it was an international event like F1. I know this kind of advanced technology is at home in the US, but the US has a way of starting things that just somehow don't make it out into the big wide world ie. NFL, NASCAR, Indy etc unlike things like Soccer ("football" to the rest of the world), Formula 1 etc (no disrespect)

I'd also like to see the X-Cup be an international event. The talent of the whole world should be tapped in improving space access technology as much as possible. Of course there's political problems with transporting technology around the globe, but that might be circumvented by setting up leagues instead of forcing everyone to compete in one place.

I think the X-Cup will be a world wide succes, so also a commercial succes.
When the first x-price succeeds with their first flight, it will create a large news storm arround the globe, I think almost every news paper, tv channel etc will report it.
All teams will go 2 times up and I think more then 5 teams will succeed with their vehicle(s), so more then 10 times the chance to make large world news... I guess it will create such a succes that the x-cup will be a very large commercial succes.
And there're already teams from canada, UK, ... so I guess it will be an international succes.

i don't believe having a rocket-race would be an achievable objective , how would they define the "racecourse" , how would it be broadcasted , how are they gonna handle safety , ....?

i think we should concentrate on just going into space for now...

we'll see about races in about 200yrs.

I don't believe the X-Cup will be like NASCAR until the development of "stock" ships. The X-Prize contestant entries are too diverse at the moment. However, once a few years pass, then perhaps 5 "Black Armadillos" or "Spaceship00(x)" will be built and then compete. Much like modern NASCAR, the advantage will be in the pits, and the "tweaking" of the ship. I'd find it hard to see a "cup" race with an SS1 against an Armadillo. But, if all the teams had the same standard ship, then the "cup" could advance things like enginer performance.

Of course this thinking lends itself to ideas like Formula One, Indy Cars, as well as NASCAR. Assuming that more than one team eventually meets the X-prize criteria (though only one 1st winner) there may be multiple X-Cup classes--the SS1 Class, the Armadillo Class, The daVinci Class. Each class could have its own "cup" at a spaceport (they rotate year to year), or like at a dragstrip, multiple classes compete within themselves, and there can be an overall competition.

i personally think that the x prize cup is a cick sucking idea

im sure it will work well, wont be like a race though, people all going up at the same time etc. Just more like who can do it, and who can do it best

Im sure it will be international, as Xprize is allready international ( And to the Poster above who made it sound like the USA invented " soccer " , the USA didnt invent " soccer "

I think that the X-Cup has a real shot at becoming a real sucess. I think the timing is important, I hope that the committees plans are in order. It would be a shame to miss out on the ground swell of support that will follow the initial sucess that is likely.

People the world over love spectacle, and what could be more spectacular than men riding a pillar of flame into the sky. Granted the shuttle launch is considered less than sexy today but I think that people may respond to the individualistic nature of the event like they did to the first astonauts. I can see crowds of people watching the launchs in the T-shirts of their favorite teams. In between times they take their kids through the X-po and buy them suborbital dogs with the works.


According to the plans it would be a regularly scheduled event. That means that not only will there be spectators but also business men. Everyone who is any one in the industry will eventually show up. The business leaders will have booths for the public almost certainly. In addition it would seem to be an opprotune time for any conferencing that they might want to do. The effect could snowball until there is an international subculture devoted to this frontier.


On the other hand the scardy cats could keep it all from happening. There is inherent danger, and a lot of people have forgoten that people die and it is better to let life be determined in quality rather than quantity. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, the X-Prize has filled a lot of people the world over with hope.

Remember that NASCAR has had many, many fatalities and even some of its finest drivers. And it is still the fastest growing spectator event in the world.

anyway how would you be able to see the rockets, rather then being spread over a mile squared of area, it would be more like 10s of 1000s of miles squared

I still don't "get" it. Maybe I will.

Mostly I can see it becoming the De Facto Space Trade show.

Yeah, I'm with you idiom. I don't "get it". I'd love to be in New Mexico or wherever and see launches but getting all the rockets there and giving spectators a spectacle seems like a longshot.

Apart from the transport costs for many teams wouldn't there be significant launch costs as well? X-Prize plans to cover these through ticket sales?

Want to make the X Prize Cup a COMMERCIAL success? Forget the entire launch vehicle, make propulsion system development the focus of the event, and put the rocket motors in CARS. The rocket propulsion technology will still advance whether the motors are going horizontal or vertical, but for spectators (in person or on TV) the events would actually be exciting to watch. Formats could include drag races or who after several runs could come closest to consistently running a given target speed at a given distance or standing start records.

For examples of what the vehicles could be like go to:

http://www.iit.edu/~iit100/

http://www.americanjetcars.com/bonneville/bonngia1.htm

http://www.americanjetcars.com/bonneville/bonvil1.htm

http://www.sonicwind.com/page1.html

http://www.sonicwind.com/constpage1.html

Want to see some DEMANDING propulsion system problems? Here's some good ones. A rocket car that could accelerate to 500 mph in the quarter without blacking out the driver (it's doable) or a rocket car that could accelerate to supersonic speed in a distance of one mile.