What is the Ansari X Prize?

The X Prize Foundation’s idea was from Dr. Peter Diamandis, a space visionary and founder of several space ventures, among them the International Space University (ISU).
In the last years the X Prize Foundation received a multimillionaire donation from the Ansari brothers so the competition was renamed the Ansari X Prize.

Peter Diamandis, Founder of the X Prize with Pablo de León

The Ansari X Prize had 24 competitors from 5 nations. Our team was the only one in Latin America and only one from the Southern Hemisphere.
The countries competing for the X Prize were: Argentina, Canada, Israel, Russia, United Kingdom, United States and Romania.

Competidores del Ansari X Prize durante un encuentro en Los Angeles.

The Ansari X Prize was won on October 4, 2004, when Burt Rutans’s team, Mojave Aerospace Ventures (funded by Paul Allen) completed the second required flight in less than 15 days. The prize was collected by Rutan’s team on November 6, 2004. (For pictures of the event click here)

Burt Rutan, Ansari X Prize winner with Pablo de Leon, Argentine competitor during the gala where Rutan received the prize.

Most of the competitors plan to continue working on their space transportation systems, since all understand that there will be plenty of opportunities to use new private space vehicles in the future.

The Ansari X Prize and us.

From the beginning our team knew that the possibility to win without the necessary funds was small. Specifically, after Burt Rutan announced that Paul Allen, Microsoft co-founder, was his investor, it was clear to us that other competitors didn’t had much of a chance to win the Ansari X Prize in the required timeframe.
The experience and ingenuity of a leading designer like Burt Rutan was combined with the financing capability of Paul Allen, who contributed approximately $27 million for the development of Spaceship One.
It is clear than the goal of Allen was not to invest $27 millions to win $10, but to open a new era of private spaceflight with a tremendous economic potential for the future.

There will be plenty of opportunities for companies working in the suborbital, and later, orbital private spaceflight business. If our project is successful we hope, not only provide space tourism services, but to work with universities and research centers to provide suborbital flights to perform research in material sciences, resources evaluation and environment, microgravity, electronics, etc. in space.

We thank the X Prize Foundation, who kindly gave us a special place in their group of teams and encouraged us trough the process. Without the vision and help of Peter Diamandis, Gregg Maryniak and others members of the X Prize we could not have accomplished what we did. The continuation of our efforts in this incredible adventure will be a tribute to these dreamers and doers of the next space age.

For more information about the Ansari X Prize and the X Prize Foundation please visit:
www.xprize.org

El Ansari X Prize tiene famosos contribuyentes, sponsors y adherentes.
Aquí, las opiniones del proyecto de algunos de ellos:

	“El Ansari X prize es un apasionante programa que hará por la astronáutica lo que Charles Lindbergh hizo por la aviación en 1927.” (Arthur Clarke, escritor. Autor de 2001, Odisea del Espacio.)
	“El Ansari X prize ha hecho un trabajo excelente al capturar la imaginación del público y estimular a docenas de equipos para que diseñen y desarrollen nuevos métodos para realizar viajes suborbitales al espacio a bajo costo.” (Dennis Tito, protagonista del primer viaje privado al espacio.)
	“Necesitamos buscar formas de estimular el interés privado en los viajes espaciales. El enfoque del Ansari X prize de ofrecer un premio para estimular este interés es tanto creativo como innovador.” (Senador John Glenn, ex astronauta.)
	“Creo que el Ansari X prize debería ser visto como el comienzo de un paso gigantesco, y ese paso gigantesco implicará la participación de los ciudadanos en el apasionante emprendimiento hacia el espacio.” (Buzz Aldrin, astronauta del Apolo 11.)