In case you didn’t know, the X Prize is a competition designed to stimulate private industry into the space flight business. You can read their web site to learn more about it but in a nut shell the first private company to launch a vehicle into orbit, return it safely to earth and then do it again in two weeks or less, will win ten million dollars.

What’s so significant about this? While it’s true that governments have been putting satellites and people in orbit for quite some time now, it’s never been cheap to do so. Even with the Space Shuttle there is an enormous cost associated with putting somthing into orbit. Can it be done in a cost effective manor? Probably. Can the governement do it? Probably not. The current Space Shuttle costs approximately 100 million dollars per flight, and requires 130 days from landing to take off. Not exactly cost effective.

Private industry on the other hand is far more inclined to efficiency. Doing something as cheaply as possible to maximze profits.

Doing something as cheaply as possible is not always the right thing, and one can argue that safety costs money. After all, you can’t recall a rocket if a defect is found after launch. Still, I have to think that private industry can bridge the gap between efficiency and safety. Who would want to become a space tourist if the odds of surviving were slim to none? For a business to make a profit they have to make it safe, but they have to do so at a price that people can afford.

So what made me so excited about this? Burt Rutan, of Voyager fame, unvieled his entry in the X Prize competition. The company he founded, Scaled Composites, has a track record of thinking outside the box and making the theoretical into the practical.

There may be yet be hope that commercial space transport will be viable before I’m too old to go.

More importantly, I think this will have a positive effect on the more traditional manufacturers of space vehicles. While it’s true that the X Prize vehicles won’t being putting satellites in orbit or visiting the space station any time soon, it does mean that they’re getting closer. Manufacturers like Lockheed Martin should take the X Prize contestants seriously.

If Scaled Composites and companies like it develop vehicles that are cheaper to use and faster to turn around, they’re going to go after the mainstays of the traditional aerospace industry: putting satellites in orbit.