Look up,
but also look around. The latest in military aviation and private rocket
entrepreneurship is being readied for flight later this month at the upcoming
Holloman Air & Space Expo in Alamogordo, New Mexico – a tour de force of
aerospace technology staged in collaboration with the Wirefly X Prize Cup.
Along with
high-flying aircraft and rocketry, the October 27-28 expo will be a ground and
eye-level treat for those visiting the show. On display will be a unique
collection of hardware that affords those attending a look at both governmental
air prowess and private spaceflight initiatives.
"This
year's Cup is literally an order of magnitude more exciting than last year,"
explained X Prize founder, Peter Diamandis. "We've moved the venue from Las Cruces Airport to the Holloman
Air Force Base and are expecting 60,000 to 80,000 to attend compared to
last year's 12,000 attendees," he told SPACE.com.
For the
aviation side of the venue, it's going to be top-flight, Diamandis added. "We
also are bringing the Air Force's coolest and highest-tech flying machines to
this party," he said, pointing out that Holloman is the home of the
F22-Raptor, the most incredible flying machine in America's arsenal, as well as
the F-117 stealth fighter.
Sightseeing
manifest
On the
sightseeing manifest for expo visitors are displays and exhibits by key,
leading-edge enterprises, such as Rocketplane Kistler, XCOR Aerospace and
Starchaser, alongside Northrop Grumman
and NASA.
Space
advocacy groups such as the National Space Society, the Space Frontier
Foundation's Teachers in Space initiative and the Students for the Exploration
and Development of Space are to be on-hand. So too are several space-oriented
museums and institutes, including the Robotics Society of America and experts
from the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy.
At the
expo, those taking part will be treated to a full-scale replica of SpaceShipOne – the pioneering vessel that was the first private piloted spacecraft to exceed
an altitude of 328,000 feet twice within a 14-day period in 2004, claiming the
$10 million dollar Ansari X Prize purse.
Moon and
Mars rovers and landers are to be featured. Mock-up hardware related to NASA's
post-space shuttle Constellation program are to be on hand too.
Shuttle
replacement
Sure to
attract a cue of onlookers is the engineering model of the Dragon spacecraft,
now under fabrication by Space
Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) of El Segundo, California.
The SpaceX
Dragon design consists of a pressurized capsule and unpressurized trunk used
for Earth-to-low-Earth-orbit transport of pressurized cargo, unpressurized
cargo, and/or crew members. Dragon was initiated internally by SpaceX in 2005
and is to be utilized by the firm to fulfill its NASA Commercial Orbital
Transportation Services (COTS) contract for demonstration of cargo re-supply of
the International Space Station.
"Dragon
is the spacecraft that, together with the Falcon 9 rocket booster, will replace
the space shuttle after 2010," explains Elon Musk, chief rocketeer and
entrepreneurial leader of SpaceX.
The item on
display at the expo is the structural and manufacturing test unit of Dragon,
minus such equipment as the engines, parachute, and avionics. The first flight
unit, which will have those components, is due to be completed in mid-2008,
Musk told SPACE.com.
Racing
stripes
Yet another
expo exhibitor is the Rocket Racing League (RRL). As an aerospace sports and
entertainment organization, the group combines the competition of racing with
the excitement of rocketry.
The RRL was
established by X Prize founder, Diamandis, and two-time Indianapolis 500
champion team partner, Granger Whitelaw. That match of talent is designed to
advance the technology and increase public awareness of space travel.
When fully
up and operating, the Rocket Racing League will feature rocket-powered aircraft
flown by top pilots through a "three-dimensional track way" at venues
around the world.
Road
trip
Ready to
hit the road and head for Holloman?
From 10 a.m.
to 5 p.m. each day on October 27-28, Holloman Air Force Base will stage the
Holloman Air & Space Expo. In partnership with the Wirefly X Prize Cup, the
air and space festival is a free event comprising more than twenty different
aircraft displays and space-related events.
The Air
Force Base is situated in New Mexico's Tularosa Basin between the Sacramento and San Andreas mountain ranges. The base is about 10 miles west of Alamogordo, New Mexico, on route 70/82; 90 miles north of El Paso, Texas; 70 miles east of
Las Cruces, New Mexico.
For
detailed information and updates regarding the 2007 Wirefly X Prize Cup, go to
the Internet web site: http://space.xprize.org/x-prize-cup/
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