XPRIZE CUP EXPO Trip Report

10/11/05 00:00:00    

By Michael Mealling

As many of your know I am the VP for Business Development at Masten Space Systems. We decided to do a bit of marketing at the XPRIZE CUP EXPO this year by becoming a sponsor and having a booth where we could talk about our products and where we were in the development process. There is more about the company and the announcements we made on the MSS blog so I won't really go into that here. This is more about my personal observations and place to post links to pictures.

The Masten Space Systems booth

My overall impression is that it was very well run and was a very big success. I was impressed with everyone at the XPRIZE and with MC2 which was the show logistics company. I was particularly impressed by and grateful to Ian Murphy and Ryan Wilson, the two main PR guys with the XPRIZE CUP organization. They helped us out where they could and probably sacrificed a few years off of their lifespan due to the stress and general insanity of trying to manage the press at such an event.

I was also impressed with Mike Kelly's ability to manage launch operations. Between the weather, regulatory turf wars, safety issues and the inevitable delays inherent in making a rocket perform on cue, Mike was able to keep the show relatively on schedule and safe.

John Carmack at the Saturday Flight Ops meeting

An arial shot of the same meeting

Everyone else at the show was amazing and did their absolute best to make everything work. I especially wanted to thank Audrey Weedon with XPRIZE and Anne Phillips with MC2. The help with the logistics was greatly appreciated.

This being the first time a show like this has ever been held there were may learning experiences to go around. Most of them are minor and I list them here simply to get them out there.

1) Traffic flow. The flow of people at shows like this is a black voodoo art and something that usually is solved through simple trial and error. It was also limited by available space and safety issues. I think it can be improved upon. I'm also not sure the segregation of participants from everyone else helped since it seemed to confuse the attendees about where everything was supposed to happen.

2) Participants vs Sponsors vs Exhibitors. I think that once we get into the real competitions and get beyond trying to shove everything into a single day there should be a way for up and coming competitors to be showcased separately from other Sponsors in order to give them the extra boost needed to eventually become a full Participant. I'm sure developing the criteria for that will be difficult but it will be needed anyway.

3) Weather contingencies. That wind was murderous. I hope someone does an analysis of historical weather patterns in Las Cruces so we can find out if that weekend is truly the best time for that event. Everyone in New Mexico said this wasn't normal but I sure hope someone makes sure that's the case. My face still feels like its been sand blasted off. And I swear that inflatable planet Earth had it in for me personally.

4) Viewing. With no viewing stands or clear lines of sight the regular attendee was hard pressed to see anything interesting. If it weren't for XCOR's EZ Rocket most wouldn't have seen anything. Showing it on the Jumbotron is good but the attendee is there to see it in person. Watching it on a Really Big TV is still watching it on TV. I'm sure the liability and costs associated with large reviewing stands would be an issue so I'm not sure if I have a solution to this one.

5) Regulatory issues. Without getting into specifics about why, someone really needs to get a handle on the aviation parts of the FAA and educate them about this event and why its different than other air shows. There might even be room for legislative changes but completely ignorant on what the politics of that might be. Maybe holding at the spaceport instead of a general aviation airport will help.

6) Sun screen, lip balm, and water. In large quantities. Lots of water. Did I mention that you need a lot of water?

If the entire goal of this event was to make everyone look forward to next year then it accomplished its goal. Stretching it out to several days and having competitions with several participants will make the event much more fun and productive. I plan on being there and I plan on winning!