Jon Goff has a long, but interesting description of Masten activities at last weekend’s X-Prize Cup. And rocket geeks may want to chime in the comments section with John Carmack about the theoretical and practical Isp of the Masten engines.

Jon’s post reminds me that I forgot to mention this past weekend the tragic news that he notes about Ed Wright’s company, which lost five personnel in the crash of a camera chase plane. My condolences to him and his coworkers. It’s ironic, of course, because while we may expect to lose people in the development of new vehicles, an accident like that is always completely unexpected, and a shock.

One thing that strikes me is the behind-the-scenes look at the confusion of the operations people on the field, which was also apparent (but less so) from the press tent. Hopefully, they’ll get better at this in future years, and be able to offer a better show.

Another is the continued and heart-warming camaraderie of the industry, with cooperation and well wishes between all the players. A sign of maturation may be when they start to feel more competitive, because there are real businesses going, with real fortunes to be won or lost.

Clark Lindsey notes that, despite the fact that the prizes haven’t been won yet, Centennial Challenge is working. Which means, of course, that the Senate is now trying to kill it.

As Clark says, we’ll have to mobilize to save (or worst case, if we can’t win in conference) restore this funding next year. There are people spending a lot of time and sweat, and money, in the hopes of winning these prizes. It would be a tragedy if the prizes were snatched away now. Unfortunately, it would also be typical, and an example of why it’s hard to make government-funded prizes work, given the fickleness of the governors.

And of course, it’s one of the few really cost effective things that NASA is doing, in terms of advancing us in space.

Alan Boyle has an interesting interview on launch regulation with Marion Blakey and Patricia Grace Smith from last week’s X-Prize Cup Executive Summit.

John Carmack has a fascinating (at least to me) description of the lead up to the XPC and what happened there. And some thoughts about the future.

I

John Carmack has a fascinating (at least to me) description of the lead up to the XPC and what happened there. And some thoughts about the future.

I

John Carmack has a fascinating (at least to me) description of the lead up to the XPC and what happened there. And some thoughts about the future.

I

Also in today’s issue of The Space Review, Bob Clarebrough asks if the EU is capable of allowing a space tourism industry to develop in Europe:

…consider this: the Gettysburg Address ran to 264 words, the Declaration of Independence required 1,332, yet the European Union regulations on the sale of cabbages need 23,826 words. It

Jeff Foust already has a piece up at The Space Review about this past weekend’s X-Prize Cup, and the state of NewSpace:

Both the overall Cup and Armadillo

Arecibo can’t find any ice on the moon.

I think we should be planning asteroid/comet missions, anyway. The private sector is more likely to do that, since they’ll be more focused on the practical use of resources than science and symbolism.

I’m back from New Mexico. I got home about 11:30 last night. During my layover in Dallas, I learned from Robin Snelson, and saw on my Treo, that Armadillo didn’t get the job done. It was a good attempt, though, and I think that it’s actually good that all the money is still on the table for next year. Hopefully, their efforts this year will make it easier for others to raise the money in time for next year, where we can have a real competition.

One thing I don’t understand, though. How do they break ties? Suppose that there had been two successful contenders this year, in terms of meeting the minimum prize requirements? Anyone know?

[Update a little after noon Eastern]

Paul Breed has an answer, that I’ll assume is reliable, in comments. Also, Jeff Foust has posted some pictures of yesterday’s events over at Flikr.

I actually think that this is the coolest picture from the event, and a unique one.

But then, I confess to a bias. (And note the pants creases from too much sitting in the press tent…)