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XPRIZE Logo Menu Domains Biodiversity + Conservation Climate + Energy Deep Tech + Quantum Food + Water + Waste Health Learning + Society Space + Exploration Who Mission People Boards Board of Directors Board of Trustees SciFi Advisory Council Benefactors Vision Circle Innovation Board Spirit of XPRIZE Partnerships Prize Sponsors Careers What Prizes Alliances Challenges AI & DATA FOR GOOD IMPACT Act Subscribe Stories News Podcast Press Donate Domains Who What Act Stories Donate Biodiversity + Conservation Climate + Energy Deep Tech + Quantum Food + Water + Waste Health Learning + Society Space + Exploration Mission People Boards Board of Directors Board of Trustees SciFi Advisory Council Benefactors Vision Circle Innovation Board Spirit of XPRIZE Partnerships Prize Sponsors Careers Prizes Alliances Challenges AI & DATA FOR GOOD IMPACT Subscribe News Podcast Press BACK Be a part of the next breakthrough Sign up for XPRIZE’s monthly newsletter to stay informed. Launching a new space industry Phase Awarded Overview Activity Sponsors & Partners Launching a new space industry $10 Million Prize Purse The $10 million Ansari XPRIZE was designed to lower the risk and cost of going to space by incentivizing the creation of a reliable, reusable, privately financed, crewed spaceship that finally made private space travel commercially viable. Summary Video Ansari Impact. On October 4, 2004, XPRIZE captured the world’s attention by awarding the $10 million Ansari XPRIZE—the largest prize in history—to Mojave Aerospace Ventures for their SpaceShipOne. Led by famed aerospace designer Burt Rutan and his company Scaled Composites, with financial backing from Paul Allen, the team’s winning technology was licensed by Richard Branson to create Virgin Galactic. With the awarding of this competition, a brand-new $2 billion private space industry was launched. The Grand Challenge Before the Ansari XPRIZE, space flight was the exclusive purview of government. The possibility of space tourism was considered too dangerous and too expensive for the general public and space exploration for the private sector was neither possible nor affordable. How They Won Teams around the world were challenged to build a reliable, reusable, privately financed, manned spaceship capable of: Carrying 3 people To 100 Km about the Earth’s surface Twice within 2 weeks Backstory In 1919, hotelier Raymond Orteig offered $25,000 to the first aviator to conduct a nonstop flight between New York and Paris. Innovation was key, as the technology to do so had not been developed yet. Charles Lindbergh won the prize in 1927, while setting new records in aviation with his plane the Spirit of St. Louis . Lindbergh’s transatlantic journey forever changed the way the world viewed air travel. Seventy years later, Peter Diamandis set out to affect a similar change in space travel. Inspired by Lindbergh’s story and committed to making space travel safer, more sustainable, and commercially viable, he launched the first XPRIZE from the same table at which earlier visionaries had donated to Lindbergh’s cause. Later donations by the Ansari family brought XPRIZE’s total prize to $10M - the largest incentive prize in history, at the time. The rest is history. Prize Activity Mar 08 2022 A WOMAN’S WORLD Aug 28 2020 A WOMAN’S WORK Feb 19 2016 Virgin Galactic Unveils the New SpaceShipTwo Mojave Aerospace Ventures Wins The Competition That Started It All See All Prize Activity Donate The day before something is truly a breakthrough, it’s a crazy idea. Peter H. Diamandis Contact Us Careers Press Annual Report Donate © 2024 XPRIZE Foundation. All Rights Reserved. Build 2024.4.16.22 (Production) Terms & Conditions Privacy Policy Donor Privacy Policy...