V PRIZE?

I noticed that the V Prize link isn't working, and I also couldn't track down the V Prize blog. I also don't see any links for it anymore at Spaceports. Is the V Prize effort done? I don't know.

A prize like that is pretty difficult to arrange. Hopefully if that proves too difficult, a less ambitous, more easily funded prize that promotes the MARS and Virginia space commerce can be pulled off. I can picture all sorts of ideas like that. Off the top of my head: a prize for the first reusable suborbital vehicle to perform science or engineering task xyz 5 times from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport. That would promote the types of skills that could some day, in a later general of vehicle, result in point-to-point suborbital trips, while at the same time giving incentives to develop such capabilities at the MARS. The difficulty of the task could be calibrated to the funding available.

V Prize Workshop Slides

The V-Prize folks promised to post the slides from the recent V-Prize workshop, and it looks like they're there. The topics address questions like

What is the 'V'?
Why Virginia?
Why have a suborbital point to point prize?
What is the status of the V Prize effort?
What should the rules of the prize be?
How will the prize money be raised?
What's the schedule?

However, some of these - especially the rules and financing - remain questions, at least as far as the slides are concerned. Presumably they were discussed in the workshop (in fact Will Pomerantz's post gave some insight into these discussions).

More Review of V-Prize Workshop

Spaceports has a summary of the recent workshop on the V-Prize for a point-to-point suborbital trip. Here's something to look forward to, from the post:

The Power Points should be posted on the V-PRIZE web site soon.

Will Pomerantz on V-Prize Workshop

A few days ago I posted on the V-Prize Foundation and CSIS workshop on the suborbital point-to-point V-Prize in development. The X PRIZE Foundation's Will Pomerantz has a detailed post on the meeting, as well as on innovation prize design in general. It's interesting to compare the real-world prize management perspective of people like Will to what you read about in books.

V-Prize Workshop at CSIS

This collection of RLV News Briefs includes several interesting topics, and I'm only going to post about the prize-related one, so check out the whole thing.

Jack Kennedy continues to promote the potential of Virginia, and in particular MARS (Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport). The latest Spaceports post is on a workshop between the V-Prize Foundation and the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Check out the link to the V-Prize Foundation; it gives a good impression on the goals of the workshop.

Designing for the V Prize

Gravity Loss does some calculations and engineering design related to the V Prize. A lunar lander challenge competitor is among the commenters.

V Prize Bill Moves Along

At the bottom of this post from Spaceports is the latest step in the progress of a Virginia bill in support of the suborbital point-to-point V Prize.

Progress for V Prize Bill

I recently linked to a Spaceports article on a measure on the Virginia legislature in support of the V Prize. Now Spaceports reports that the measure has passed in the Virginia House of Delegates.

Legal Aspects of Intercontinental Suborbital Flight

Spaceports posts on some Virginia General Assembly activity that could potentially help the V-Prize for a suborbital flight from Virginia to Europe. This sounds like it could be a great prize competition if they manage to overcome the difficult funding hurdle that such a grand challenge warrents. You can get an idea of some of the things the V-Prize Foundation is up to by reading the resolution linked above.

Update on V-PRIZE

RLV News points to an update at Spaceports and the efforts to establish the V-PRIZE for point-to-point suborbital flight from Wallops Island to Europe. There's a link to a detailed interview of 2 of the people involved with the V-PRIZE on that particular prize, as well as historical prizes like the Orteig Prize and the Ansari X PRIZE.