Contest Is Viewed As The Genesis Of Commercial Human Space Flight

On October 4, the X PRIZE Foundation will celebrate the fifth anniversary of the largest prize in history, the $10 Million Ansari X PRIZE -- won by the Mojave Aerospace Ventures team for the historic flights of SpaceShipOne. Led by famed aerospace designer Burt Rutan and backed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, Mojave Aerospace Ventures was the first private team to build and launch a spacecraft capable of carrying three people to 100 kilometers above the earth's surface twice within two weeks. The team made world history when it achieved this feat on the anniversary of the historic launch of Sputnik in 1957 -- the first man made object that entered earth's orbit and opened the space age.

When SpaceShipOne touched down on October 4, 2004 and won the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE, a new billion dollar industry was born and Spaceflight was no longer viewed as the exclusive realm of governments.

Today, SpaceShipOne is displayed at the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum as a milestone of flight achievement next to Charles Lindbergh's plane, The Spirit of St. Louis. It was Lindbergh's flight that inspired the Ansari X PRIZE.

"The success of the Ansari X PRIZE has proven that incentivized competition stimulates growth in industries that have the potential to benefit the entire world," said Dr. Peter H. Diamandis. "I think ultimately it gave the Ansari X PRIZE teams around the world permission to dream and dare to think about building private spaceships. By creating the structure of the competition, it validated the importance and the viability of private spaceflight."

Sharing the same belief as Diamandis that a safe, usable private spaceship could be built, Anousheh Ansari, and her family signed on to become the title sponsor of the $10 million X PRIZE. The funding toward the title sponsorship resulted in over $100 million spent by teams vying to do what Mojave Aerospace Ventures was ultimately able to achieve. Shortly after the awarding of the Ansari X PRIZE, Ansari achieved another first and became the first female private space explorer spending a week aboard the International Space Station. Continuing to believe in creating advancements for humanity through incentivized competitions, Ansari and her brother, Amir, are members of the X PRIZE Foundation's Vision Circle and Board of Trustees.

"Being a title sponsor for the Ansari X PRIZE was one of the best philanthropic investments my family has ever made," said Anousheh Ansari. "It was wonderful to see how our money was leveraged almost ten to one and to see so many teams from all over the world compete for the prize. It is one of our proudest moments to know that we played a role in making this historical event happen and that we are a part of that history."

Following the success of the Ansari X PRIZE, the X PRIZE Foundation, whose mission is to "bring about radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity," was inspired to expand its focus beyond space to include developing and managing competitions in four key prize groups: Exploration (Space and Oceans), Energy & Environment, Life Sciences and Education & Global Development.

Currently, there are three active competitions to spur innovation that have been launched by the X PRIZE Foundation:

• Archon X PRIZE for Genomics -- ($10 million)
• Google Lunar X PRIZE -- ($30 million)
• Progressive Automotive X PRIZE -- ($10 million)

The X PRIZE Foundation continues to further explore future competitions through its prize development. Prize concepts include:

• Health X PRIZE
• Ocean X PRIZE Suite
• Energy and Environment X PRIZE Suite

The Foundation has an ongoing goal of launching one or two prizes per year in areas where innovation is stalled or market failures exist.

Robert K. Weiss, President and Vice Chair, stated, "We had hoped that a private space industry would be created within a few years of the Ansari X PRIZE being won. We did not foresee the reality that unfolded -- Virgin Galactic started during the competition itself. The original $10 million prize has grown into a $1+ billion industry. That's a leverage of 100 to 1 from the prize purse to the industry impact; that's key to what an X PRIZE is all about."

FMI: www.xprize.org