This Time, It's For $50 Million

It's five times the size of the X-Prize and wide open. Just days after Burt Rutan and Paul Allen claimed the $10 million Ansari X-Prize purse, hotel owner Robert Bigelow is borrowing some of the immense thunder created by the X Prize to offer $50 million for the next step: whoever can fly two two-orbit missions with a five passenger payload inside of 60 days.

"We expect a wide spectrum of participants, from the Lockheeds to Burt Rutan to anyone else," said Bigelow's corporate lawyer, Mike Gold.

Bigelow owns Budget Suites of America and if you think it's a little odd that a hotel entrepreneur is offering a $50 million space prize, consider this: the $25,000 prize that lured Charles Lindbergh across the Atlantic in 1927 was put up by New York hotel owner Raymond Orteig.

To win, an orbital prize-winner must:

• Be built in the USA
• Make its two attempts before January 10th, 2010.
• Be comprised of no more than 20-percent expendable parts
• Complete two orbital flights within 60 days. Each flight must consist of at least two complete orbits.

The first of the two flights can carry a weight equivalent, but the second flight must carry five passengers.

Bigelow's isn't the only space prize in the offing. NASA's Centennial Challenge will be a series of contests. Rules and objectives are still pending.

FMI: www.bigelowaerospace.com