The die is cast...
Burt Rutan has given the required 60 day notice and announced that Sept 29, 2004 will be the date of his first X-Prize attempt. (Earlier reports indicate that they plan to fly not twice, but three times within the requisite three week period, thus allowing some margin for problems.) The countdown begins....
Also, the Da Vinci Project has announced they will roll out their craft on August 5th, and will make their own attempt at the Prize 'sometime in the fall'. (Some sites are reporting this announcement as a challenge to SpaceShip One. I don't see how that can be given that the DaVinci folks have not announced a launch date.)
Sources:
- Space.com story.
- Ansari X-Prize press release.
1 Comments:
Derek,
It'll be interesting to see when the Da Vinci Project actually makes its first launch attempt--and whether that is a manned flight, or unmanned. Their vehicle doesn't seem to lend itself too well to a good incremental testing program, but they still might want to do an unmanned shakedown flight before putting a person on it.
~Jon
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