X-Prize Cup 2007 Stunk. I was There

Dear Spacers,

I don't think that there was much real news to come out of the X-Prize Cup.Not much has been said. Well, in order to supplement what you may have received, I have blogged the Cup at my website

http://www.moonmall.org

Here is the blog entry for that day.

http://www.moonmall.org/saturday-october-27-2007.html

also there is a photo gallery at this address. Please notice the lack of attendance. This in contrast to the large attendance for X-Prize Cup 2005 at the Las Cruces Airport. Also in contrast to any Holoman Air Force Base airshow in previous years.

http://www.moonmall.org/x-prize-cup-2007.html

If you wish to contact me, then there is an email address link in the contact page.

http://www.moonmall.org/contact.html

I'm sorry to say but the X-Prize Cup really sucked. Thank you for reading.

Jason Damisch

I am sorry to hear that. And a little surprised. But not a lot surprised. When (if) SS2 is sompleted, and/or some others are completed, I think it will pick up a bit. But as any engineer knows, it always takes longer and costs more.

I think it was always going to do well straight after the Ansari X-Prize then dip until there is enough competition for a competitive cup.

Was good fun watching the news come in here though!

My 14 year old son and I were there also. We had a great time and although I'd not been to an X-Cup event before, this one seemed well attended. When we arrived early Saturday it did look a bit empty but by afternoon and on Sunday the crowd had arrived. I think my son was a bit bored by the ground displays (expect for the robots) but he really enjoyed the airshow portion.
I sprang for the VIP section tickets and perhaps that also helped (all the free drink, food, snacks and shade you could stand).
I really enjoyed the ability to talk one on one with the X-Cup team members at their booths, very informative.
I plan to attend next year as well.
Just my opinion,
MikeJ

Since there was no webcast at all, it stunk for me. Very little info, if any, came out except for Armadillo. If Armadillo wasn't there, well, it wasn't worth anyone's attention. Not sure, but i think they moved the elevator games since i haven't heard anything about that.

The elevator Games were held in Salt Lake City one or two weeks earlier. In spite of a near miss in 2006, there was no winner in 2007 either (for either the climber or the tether test lengths).

I understand that one reason (or excuse) for not running these together again was that the climber crane was extended to 400 feet (but the climb distance was the same). A crane this tall poses an airspace hazard.

I had thought that Salt Lake City was selected for better accessability and team accommodations - and perhaps it was.

(Excuse me if I have messed up any of the lengths (feet/meters?)

In other news, the DARPA "Urban Challenge", in spite of far less media coverage than the earlier "Grand Challenges" and its greater difficulty, was won by a Carnegie Mellon team.


Back to topic, The three day air show was specular! It included world class competitive aerobatics, high power rockets, a classic wing walker, an ultralight, aerobatic parachutes, one helicopter doing LOOPS and ROLLS and of course many, many passes of thundering jets and helicopters. The best jet climbs were what we dream of our rockets doing!

The "educational day" again had thousands of school kids who were actually interested in what we were doing, and excited about it.

Displays from "serious" personal spaceflight companies were slim to nonexistent - which does say something about that as a business.

The rocket flying provided by the one qualifying team, Armadillo, was as good as it could have been (for the audience) including the fireball finale. Better luck would have snared a prize with only two takeoffs, instead of the six attempts we watched. The "Jumbotron" provided a good view.

If one were expecting the practiced, Big Bucks extravaganza of a Super Bowl, this wasn't it.

If one hoped to be part of the beginnings, which occurred with airplanes a century ago, this is what it looks like. In 1907 airplanes often didn't take off and fly right, but one could meet the pioneers and see them doing their best.

Add one of the best airshows you could see anywhere, and you have the 2007 X Prize Cup.

I was at the X-prize in 2006 when I worked with Orion Propulsion. The only fun me and the 2 other employees ( Peasants ), had was after the event in the evening when we went out and did the clubing scene. But when it was all over the owner of the Orion thought we were suppose to stay under his supervision during the x-prize event day and night, (Wrong) we didn't want to be glorified by the media like he did. The only time we had fun at the event was when it was all over.

I think this years one will be alot better, with more NGLLC teams turning up and (hopefully) flying and along with the flights from the RRL teams, there will hopefully be alot more rocketry, only time will tell.



Iain