X PRIZE Foundation - Definition and Overview

The X PRIZE Foundation is the non-profit organization operating the Ansari X Prize, a $10 million competition designed to encourage private exploration of space. It is based in Saint Louis, Missouri. Peter Diamandis is its founder and president. Erik Lindbergh, grandson of Charles Lindbergh, is a board member.

With the X Prize won, the X Prize Foundation will be starting an annual X Prize Cup competition, starting at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico in 2006. This will be a regular competition, offering prizes in five categories: turnaround time, passengers per launch, total passengers, altitude, and speed. This type of competition is completely unlike the original X Prize, in that it is always awarded to the best competitor at the time, rather than to the first to achieve a specific goal. This type of structure tends to encourage incremental improvement of existing designs, rather than the development of radical new designs. It shows no likelihood of spurring orbital flight, for example.

The X Prize Foundation has also announced the WTN X Prize (World Technology Network X Prize). This was formally announced by Peter Diamandis of the X Prize Foundation and James P. Clark of the World Technology Network on October 7 at the WTN's 2004 World Technology Summit & Awards. A series of X-Prizes are planned inspired by the Ansari X-Prize but tackling other areas in science and technology. In the next 6 months the prizes will be chosen (the public can submit ideas at their website (http://www.wtnxprize.org/)). They will be based upon pressing global needs that can be realistically solved in the next 5 - 10 years. Prizes are expected to be in the tens of millions of dollars.

External links

• CNN: X Prize evolves into annual competition (http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/10/05/spaceshipone.race.ap/index.html)
• WTN X Prize Homepage (http://www.wtnxprize.org/)