The Ansari X-Prize: Let ’em Fly and Die

07/05/04 00:00:00    

By Michael Mealling

This article was submitted before Scaled's attempt but due to time and other issues I wasn't able to proof it and post it. But its still timely. Could whoever submitted it let me know? Thanks!

On Monday, June 21st Scaled Composites will attempt to do what no entity has ever done before: Send a human into space without government sponsorship.

This event is so exciting, so thrilling, and so exhilarating that hundreds, maybe thousands, of journalists will be on hand to witness the attempt, and space aficionados have packed the hotels for miles around the launch site.

If Scaled Composites succeeds it will be one flight away from winning the Ansari X-Prize, the $10 million dollar prize created by space visionary Dr. Peter Diamandis to spur space exploration.

But what will happen if Scaled Composites fails? What happens if the failure is so catastrophic that it takes the life of the pilot? What happens if spectators are killed? What will happen then? In particular, how will the US Government respond?

There are two possibilities worth considering:

1. The US Government will do little or nothing.

2. The US Government will halt all flights by X-Prize teams.

If the Government pursues the second option it would deal a fatal blow to the hopes and dreams of a dozen companies and would cripple the space industry for the indefinite future.

X-Prize teams are demonstrating by example that getting to space need not be costly or time consuming. NASA – as well as the majority of the aerospace industry – has failed to do what X-Prize teams have accomplished in just a few years. This success should be encouraged and supported, not legislated and regulated out of existence.

The entrepreneurial sprit that the Ansari X-Prize has unleashed must be preserved, no matter what happens on Monday. Government regulation and policy must not be allowed to destroy this spirit.

We all want Scaled Composites to succeed, and we all want to see a healthy and competitive space industry develop over the next few years.

But if Scaled Composites fails in a way that takes human lives we must band together to prevent the Government from suffocating the X-Prize teams and the space industry.

We must convince the Government that the best policy is to let Â’em fly and die.