By Andrew Parke

Armadillo Aerospace is a privately funded team of rocket engineers from Texas currently working on a rocket that is powered by hydrogen peroxide. Despite problems with balance, they are getting their space flight vehicle ready for space travel in the upcoming X PRIZE CUP.

Their team is composed of 10 people: John Carmack (team leader), Russ Blink, Phil Eaton, Joseph LaGrave, Neil Milburn, Matthew Ross, Tommy Bishop, James Bauer, Katherine Anna Kang, and a fictional armadillo named Widget.


They have said, "We have committed to doing demo flights at the X-Prize cup event in October of this year. While they would have been fine with us just dusting off our 2’ diameter mixed-monoprop vehicle (the “flying crayon”), we are going to use this as a firm deadline for having the new LOX vehicle in robust flying shape. We will be aiming to do several back-to-back 15 second boosted hops to demonstrate operational efficiency. Flying on a biprop, this should be quite exciting."

By Richard Kirkpatrick

Rocketplane, LTD. By Richard Kirkpatrick

Rocketplane, LTD. is an emerging private space company seeking to invest their energy in space technologies and space travel. They are in the process of creating a spacecraft, the Rocketplane XP, capable of flying to sub-orbital space.

The spaceplane is designed to carry up to four passengers to an altitude of up to 330,000 feet above the earth. Like airplanes, it will take off under jet power from a runway rather than making a vertical ascent into space like rockets. Once it reaches an altitude of approximately 20,000 feet, the rocket motor will be ignited, propelling the rocketplane vertically into space with an acceleration force of about 3 g’s. After reaching apogee, it will begin its descent back to earth, reaching about 4.5 g’s during peak reentry deceleration, then going into subsonic glide and restarting its jet engines for a powered landing on the runway of the Oklahoma Spaceport.

With respect to their attendance at the X Prize Cup, Chuck Lauer, co-founder and Director of Business Development says, "Rocketplane is pleased to be a part of the X Prize Cup Exhibition this year, and we are really looking forward to the start of the space flight competition at the X Prize Cup event in 2006 or 2007. We believe the design and operating characteristics of our spaceplanes will give us a big competitive advantage in most of the five individual events as well as the overall Cup Championship. We expect to be bringing home some cool trophies and some big checks as soon as the X Prize Foundation gets the competitions organized and funded."

George French, Rocketplane's CEO, says, “The X Prize Cup could have a big influence on the continued development of the new personal space flight industry. The Cup events are designed to expand the performance envelope and minimize the time between flights, two aims that are desirable from a business viewpoint as well as a competitive position."

Currently, the company is taking reservations for seats. In the year 2007 Rocketplane expects its spacecraft to be ready for flight. Before the passengers will fly to outer space, they will go through a series of training procedures called Civilian Astronaut Space Training (CAST). On their first and second days of training, passengers will learn about aviation physiology and flight trajectory. Afterwards, they will experience simulations that will help prepare them for the intense flight. The simulations will include an altitude/hypoxia chamber, a spatial disorientation, a 3D space flight simulator and a smoke chamber. On the third day, the crew will tour the Rocketplane XP, the Spaceport and Mission Control at the OSIDA (Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority) facility. Also, they will study safety procedures and equipment, the development, maintenance and flight coordination of the vehicle, and many other activities. On day four, the passengers will prepare for launch and complete their space flight experience.

With recent advances in computer and material sciences, Rocketplane has developed the capability to build a cost-effective sub-orbital vehicle. Key partners from NASA, the Department of Defense and the aerospace industry have helped in building the airframe design, thermal protection systems and advanced propulsion.

Along with its development of the spaceplane and investment opportunities in the space industry, Rocketplane has its future set. With the help of their management team and other space technology industries, Rocketplane will accomplish much more. Hopefully, in the year 2007, we will see Rocketplane successfully fly humans to sub-orbital space.

Well, the International Space Station doesn't have a gift shop yet, and the Golden Palace Casino doesn't have a location in a space hotel at this time. But at least The Space Store, an on-line gift bonanza, is here. And Space Store has got to be one of the most exciting destinations for anyone interested in space exploration.

By Andrew Parke

Aeronautics and Cosmonautics Romanian Association, or A.R.C.A, is a private company. They are interested in promoting just about anything space- related, or aerospace-related. Although they were not formally recognized until 1999, they were founded in 1998 when a small team decided to build a high- performance rocket engine. They have now dominated the field of space and aeronautics in Romania.

Bogdan Sburlea is Project Manager at ARCA. When asked to describe ARCA’s participation in the XCUP, he said, "First things first. We have a rocket, but there is still a lot to do. The tests are lengthy and expensive. The results from these tests may invalidate current designs for the engine or help us skip unnecessary intermediate phases. The level of incertitude is huge. However, we hope to launch our rocket Orizont by the end of next year."

"The level of risk we will allow for our future launches will depend almost entirely on our technical status. The status of the other competitors will be less important for us. Our goal is to get to space, and we won't jeopardize this goal if we are not ready. This doesn't mean that we're not competing in XPC. We just don't want to put excessive pressure on our technical team."

ARCA's reasons for starting this team were to build knowledge they would need later and to put together a great team. They have succeeded in those goals. The team of specialized rocket engineers consists of: Dumitru Popescu - Team Leader, Ing. Andrei Comanceanu, Ing.Bogdan Sburlea, Dr. Ing. Gheorghe Ionita, Constantin Truta, Niculina Truta, Ec. Maria Popescu, Simona Popescu, Dr. Ing. Diaconu Teodor, Ing. Andrei Hapenciuc, Florian Benchea, Florea Gheorghe, Ing. Mares Anca, Dragos Rosca, Livia Rosca, Ing. Mihail Staicu, Ing. Ionut Dinca, Ing. Dragos Comanescu, Adrian Zepa, Ing. Catalin Mehtupciu, Mihai Radu, Luiza Olaru.

They have had several projects before their current one. The first, a high-performance rocket engine they designed, had 85,000 kg of force. They have also been involved in astronomy when they helped build the “Galileo Galilee” astronomical observatory. Using this observatory, they participated in the observation of the solar eclipse on August 11, 1999.

They unveiled their newest achievement at Bucharest on August 27, 2005: the ORIZONT. The vehicle can carry up to two people. Its wingspan and maximum weight are 10 m and 2000 kg respectively. It is made up of 90% fiberglass and epoxy resin. The other 10% are special high-stress steel alloys and carbon fibers. It can be towed up by an airplane, the primary choice, or a helicopter.

How does Sburlea assess the impact on the XCUP on the future of space travel? "To be honest, I don't know. It can have a very significant impact or it can be just an idea that came too early - if the competing teams won't be able to fly high in a few years."

By Greg Trotti

As mentioned in a previous issue of our e-zine, XCOR is one of the many exciting new private commercial space companies. XCOR was founded in the fall of 1999 by experts in the engineering and aerospace fields. It has its base of operations in Hangar 61 of the Mojave Airport in Mojave, California.

XCOR is responsible for the EZ-Rocket, a rocket- powered aircraft; makes rocket engines for suborbital transportation; has developed multiple rocket and propulsion innovations; and is currently developing its own suborbital vehicle, the Xerus.

The EZ-Rocket is a modified Long-EZ aircraft with rocket engines. It can reach a maximum altitude of 1.91 miles and a maximum climb rate of 10,000 feet per minute. Two months after XCOR was formed, they had completed designs for the igniter that is still used today in all of their engines. By the end of 2001, they had run over 1200 test firings of engines.

One of their projects in development is the Xerus. The Xerus has a liquid propellant-based rocket engines, will coast to a height of 100 kilometers and has a high speed of Mach 4. By targeting three separate markets - suborbital payload, passengers and microsatellite delivery - the company believes the project will be able to turn a quick profit. With the cost savings to the companies who would use these services, it is a win-win situation.

We asked Jeff Greason, CEO of XCOR, about his company's participation in the event. He replied: "XCOR is very pleased to bring our rocketplane, the EZ Rocket, out of retirement for the Countdown to the X PRIZE CUP. The last occasion when we flew in public was twice at AirVenture 2002 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and we are looking forward to flying it in front of a crowd again. This event is a marvelous opportunity for people to see first-hand — on the ground and in action — rocket-powered vehicles which are the next generation of spaceships. The X PRIZE CUP is doing a great service by promoting the new commercial space industry in an exciting way."

There will be demonstration flights of the EZ-Rocket at the Las Cruces International Airport. Col. Richard A. Searfoss ret. USAF, a former NASA Astronaut and Chief Judge of the Ansari X PRIZE, will be piloting the EZ-Rocket. Currently flights are scheduled at 1:00 PM and 4:00 PM on Sunday, October 9, 2005.

By Richard Kirkpatrick

Pablo de Leon and Associates is a private space technology company located in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Currently, they are working on their spaceship, Gauchito, a vehicle dedicated to the space tourism industry. Also, they will be participating at this year’s X Prize Cup in which they will be the only Argentine aerospace participant. Their team consists of forty-two scientists, engineers, volunteers and technicians who will be led by their team leader, Pablo de Leon.

Pablo de Leon is an aerospace engineer with advanced experience in space systems design, project management and development of space vehicles and their components. He is looking forward to the XPCup.

He stated: “During the X Prize Cup, we will also be presenting the first layout of the panel control for our Gauchito capsule, and we will bring a full-pressure spacesuit like the ones we are going to use during our flights.

“The X Prize Cup, as an annual event, will strengthen the private spaceflight industry by bringing more companies to the public limelight. It will create the necessary connection between entrepreneurs, investors, companies, government and general public to make private spaceflight available for everybody. This event in New Mexico is the natural evolution of the Ansari X Prize.”

Gauchito will be performing flight research and missions for space tourism. The rocket will be launched vertically from Argentina. When it reaches one hundred kilometers above the earth, it will release a space capsule. After about four minutes of microgravity, the capsule will reenter the atmosphere, experiencing a deceleration of 4 g’s. In order to safely carry the capsule’s passengers back to earth, it will deploy a drogue parachute and land in the South Atlantic Ocean near the coast of Argentina. The total flight should last about seventeen minutes. After the flight, Gauchito will be able to fly again because of the advanced technology engineered by Pablo de Leon and his team.

Like many other private space companies, Pablo de Leon and Associates will not accept funds from government sources. They intend to learn from previous mission mistakes of other space companies. In addition, they find it vital to their country’s economy to have technological development equal to that of other nations. If Gauchito’s mission is successful, Pablo de Leon and Associates will be leading the way to a better economic future for Argentina.

The Golden Palace.com Space Program Powered by the da Vinci Project, led by Brian Feeney of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, was founded in 1996 and registered as a contender for the International X PRIZE on June 2, 2000.

They plan to utilize a reusable helium balloon to lift their spacecraft, "Wild Fire MK Vl," 70,000 to 80,000 feet. Then Wild Fire's rocket engines will fire and propel the crew to the minimum 100 km altitude. The reusable rocket is capable of performing several missions to space.

Starchaser Industries is a high-tech company specializing in space-related products and services. Starchaser will enable new space-related business ventures to achieve reliable, affordable and reusable access to space for space tourism and micro-satellite launch purposes.

It was founded in 1992 by CEO Steve Bennett and is staffed by a highly skilled and motivated workforce operating out of its R&D center in Hyde, Cheshire, UK.

Starchaser Industries also has an Outreach Programme that engages with both the general public and students. Its educational activities serve to complement the UK national curriculum. Starchaser offers students opportunities for involvement in research and development projects that will encourage them to pursue higher education at the graduate and doctorate levels.

Rockets Away! is pleased to let its new readers continue to view the actual flights of SpaceShipOne in a comprehensive Internet broadcast Click Here to Watch the Actual Flights of SpaceShipOne. Help support the X Prize Foundation's continuing efforts to promote entrepreneurship in Space.

Rockets Away! Media, a division of New Galaxy Enterprises, LLC., a motion picture and television development company, continues to seek one or more active investors to participate in the making and marketing of a documentary film called “Rockets Away! – The Birth of the Commercial Spacecraft Industry.” This film will feature original and archived footage of the events that have triggered the birth of a whole new industry, a global space race fueled by the hopes and dreams of private individuals and their companies that long to participate in the conquest of space.

So far, we have been present with cameras at Peter Diamondis rocket racing press conference and will have a team covering the XCUP. The cameras have been the result of a new synergy between Rockets Away! Media and Reverse Films, currently being developed by Tayfun Delice and Mevlut Akkaya.

Investors should have experience in the marketing or promoting of commercial film products, a production, financing or screenwriting background in the film business, or a general business background that would make them useful to participate in the creation or marketing of this film. The goal is to ultimately seek conventional domestic and international film distribution for this 90-minute documentary.

Current plans project the need for $500,000 to cover the purchase of addtional equipment, location shooting expenses, pre- and post-production costs, editing and film transfer costs. We are contemplating an agreement which will provide for the investor to equally share net profits with Rockets Away! Media (and its filmmaking partners) as well as participating in various stages of producing and developing this film for commercial distribution, after fully recouping their investment. The current budget is being developed by Reverse Films.

A budget and prospectus will be available for active investors.

For more information, call Johnny Blue Star at 760- 323-0193 or email him at cvnewz@aol.com.