Saskatoon — Canadian Press Published on Monday, Apr. 05, 2004 10:00PM EDT Last updated on Wednesday, Apr. 08, 2009 8:10PM EDT
A launch date for a Canadian entry in the race to build the world's first privately funded manned space capsule will be announced later this month, organizers say.
The Toronto-based entry known as the da Vinci Project plans to launch its Wildfire capsule into the stratosphere from the airport in Kindersley, a community of 5,500 southwest of Saskatoon, this summer.
The capsule is to be carried by the world's largest helium balloon to a height of 24 kilometres, where its rockets will fire, shooting the capsule up to about 120 kilometres above Earth.
If all goes well, astronaut Brian Feeney will be in space for about five minutes before he and the capsule drift back to the ground with the help of a parachute.
The project is one of 24 vying for a $10-million prize being offered by the X Prize Foundation to the first group to launch a manned reusable capsule 100 kilometres into space twice within two weeks.
Melanie Wildman, spokeswoman for the da Vinci Project, said the exact date of the launch will be announced in Long Beach, Calif., on April 18 at the first race for the Champ Car World Series.
The racing series is about to become a sponsor of the X Prize, and its 2003 winner, Canadian racer Paul Tracy, is expected to endorse da Vinci.
The X Prize is based on a contest in the 1920s, which resulted in Charles Lindbergh's non-stop flight across the Atlantic. It set off an aviation boom that yielded multi-engine transports and jets. The X Prize is expected to ignite the same advancements in civilian space flight.
"It's just an absolutely huge story," said Ms. Wildman.
The da Vinci entry has been cited as one of two front-runners for the prize, and it's turning into a David versus Goliath contest, said Ms. Wildman.
Wildfire's total budget is $5-million, while Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne, its main competitor from California, has a $25-million wallet filled by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen
"It's the Canadian team with no money against the American team with unlimited resources," said Ms. Wildman. "But they just did some test flights and had a failed landing and our testing has gone perfectly. We feel like we have the edge."
The Canadian Arrow, the other Canadian entry in the contest, is based in London, Ont. That team hopes to make its launch this year from a barge in Lake Huron, about five kilometres offshore from Sarnia, but no date has been announced.
Join the Discussion: