Press Releases
KitCraft Feature
New Scientist Magazine
Online: Sept. 14, 2000
UK: Sept. 12, 2000
USA: Sept. 14, 2000Radio
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Sept. 13, 2000
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Sept. 13, 2000
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Sept. 15, 2000
Vancouver, B.C. Canada 604-331-2711
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Sept. 28, 2000
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BBC London
Sept. 28, 2000
London, U.K. "World Today"Cerulean Freight Feature
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Online: Sept. 15, 2000
New York Times
Online: Sept. 16, 2000
Australia: Sydney Morning Herald
Sept. 16, 2000: One small step, and DIY enters space age
SpaceDaily.com COVER
Sept. 22, 2000
ESPACE France
Sept. 21, 2000
Hypersonic Transportation Feature
San Francisco Business Journal
Aug. 21, 2000
San Francisco, California, U.S.XPRIZE'S Features
Space.com Online:
XPRIZE ORG Online:
CNN Online:
Just a Couple of Sunday Drives...Into Space
Aviation Week's Space Business
Oct. 30, 2000: 19th Is the Way to Go
X Prize Entrants Race Toward Space, Glory and Cash
"Popular Science" (www.popsci.com)
November 2000 issue has a report on space
travel -- space poll: 41% would pay $50,000 or more for a week in space.
Oct. 30, 2000
Jim
Benson of SpaceDev endorses CFFC's stance on development (COTS)
TIME
EUROPE Latest Edition of TIME Europe -- Travel 2000
October 30, 2000, Vol. 156 No. 18: A special report
on the new frontiers of tourism
19th Team Joins X-Prize Competition
Source:
Space.com
19th Team Joins X-Prize Competition
By Craig Linder
Spacial to SPACE
posted: 12:11 pm ET
25 August 2000
WASHINGTON (States News Service) --- The competition for the X PRIZE just got stiffer.
A 19th team joined the race Wednesday, hoping that its design for a reusable three-person spacecraft will be the one that wins the $10 million grand prize.
Named for a character in Robert A. Heinlein's short story Our Fair City, the team's craft is dubbed "The Good Ship Kitten" and is designed to be much smaller and lighter than the other 18 entries for the X PRIZE.
The team building the Kitten is based at the Cerulean Freight Forwarding Company of Oroville, Washington located just south of the Canadian border. Designed to take off and land from a traditional runway, the Kitten in some respects has more in common with a commercial jet than a typical rocket.
Jim Hill, who is leading Cerulean's 17-person team of engineers and pilots, said that the initial inspiration for the Kitten's design came from kit aircraft that users can assemble on their own.
In fact, he said, the Cerulean team hopes to sell the Kitten as a kit spacecraft. Hill said that the kits will sell for about $500,000 when they come to market.
Standing just 11.5 feet (3.5 meters) tall and 19.7 feet (6 meters) long, the Kitten uses a skin made of foam and aluminum that is then coated in ceramic. Hill said that using that material allows the craft to use less fuel to reach its maximum altitude of 145 miles (235 kilometers).
"We can make it light and still make it strong," he said.
Powered by either methane or propane, blended with liquid oxygen, the 7,055-pound (3,200-kilogram) Kitten will take off on a runway and fly like an airplane to a height of 7.5 miles (12 kilometers). From there, it will then soar like a rocket to its maximum altitude.
Once the ship returns to Earth, Hill said that it can be turned around for another flight within 90 minutes.
"The whole idea is to make it quick and convenient," he said.
The Kitten will cost Cerulean roughly $1.5 million to develop, Hill said, with most of the funding coming from individuals. The team is able to keep the cost of the craft down because the engineers and designers working on the project are not drawing salaries from the company.
"We're putting sweat into this instead of labor," he said.
Modeled after the Orteig Prize, which sparked the interest in transatlantic flight that culminated in Charles Lindbergh's 1927 nonstop solo flight from New York to Paris. Like the X PRIZE, the Orteig Prize was sponsored by a group of St. Louis businessmen.
The X PRIZE Foundation, the group that is offering the prize, hopes to spark interest in commercial space travel with the award.
The $10 million X-PRIZE will go to the first team that flies a reusable rocket twice within two weeks to 62 miles (100 kilometers) or higher. The craft must also be privately financed and able to carry three passengers.
Contacts: Lisa Clarke
X PRIZE Foundation
202-662-1280
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
New Race to Space Heats Up with
Addition of 19th Team
St. Louis, MO (August 23, 2000) - The St. Louis-based X PRIZE Foundation today announced that the Cerulean Freight Forwarding Company of Oroville, WA, has entered into the X PRIZE. Cerulean is the 19th team to register to compete in the $10 million international competition. The X PRIZE will be awarded to the first person or team to build a privately funded passenger-carrying vehicle that travels to space and back.
Dr. James Hill is leading the Cerulean effort with an experienced team of aerospace design and construction professionals. Powered completely by rocket power, and quieter than a 737 aircraft, the Cerulean space vehicle will take off and land on a traditional runway. Cerulean's spacecraft is constructed using commercially available, off-the-shelf components, combining existing technology in a new and innovative way.
"We were raised with the dream of space travel, yet it has been thirty years since man last set foot on another world," said Hill. "Through the X PRIZE, the private sector will have the chance for space travel and reverse the belief that space is reserved for governments. We are creating the next generation of space vehicles."
To win the $10 million X PRIZE, spacecraft must be privately financed and constructed, and demonstrate the ability to fly three people into space. Vehicles must be reusable, flying twice within a two-week period. The competition's goal, which has been endorsed by leading space and aviation organizations around the world, is to jump-start the commercialization of space, including space tourism. Currently, there are 19 teams from five nations participating in this first-of-its-kind competition.
"A new industry is ready to emerge in space," continued Hill. "Humanity is faced with the greatest opportunity to venture and expand into the final frontier and realize that the sky is no longer the limit."
"I am excited to see more innovative people and designs entering the X PRIZE competition " said Gregg Maryniak, Executive Director, X PRIZE Foundation. "Within the next four years we will see a new generation of spacecraft inspired by the spirit of this competition. The X PRIZE designers will go down in history."
Cerulean Freight Forwarding Company (www.thriftyspace.com) The Cerulean
(TGS Kitten) entry taxis on a conventional runway about one mile long.
Engines begin to hum as the cryogenic tanks are pressurized and the brakes are
released. The thrust is increased to yield a 2G acceleration - the equivalent of
the acceleration experienced on a playground swing. At takeoff, the vehicle is
traveling at approximately 150 miles-per-hour and the nose is raised to 9
degrees above the horizon. At 40,000 ft. the (TGS Kitten) pitches
to 75 degrees and accelerates at 2Gs for approximately 2 minutes. The craft then
coasts for two minutes and pitches down to 60 degrees 2.5 minutes later. The (TGS
Kitten) then begins
a gliding descent to the port of origin for refueling and another trip. The
entire flight lasts under two hours, with approximately 4.5 minutes of zero G,
quick turnaround time allows for multiple flights in one day. More than half of
the funds for development and testing of the Cerulean X PRIZE entry have been
raised through private investors. The team anticipates launching within 18
months of achieving full funding.
For additional information about the X PRIZE, visit the X PRIZE Foundation web site at www.xprize.org.
Note to editors: Electronic images of the Cerulean vehicle (TGS Kitten) are available by contacting Lisa Clarke at 202-662-1280
To Space Thrifty
Style
Source: PR Web / Posted 05/02/2000
For years now the private citizen has only dreamed of reaching space. Today, however, a dynasty is being born in the tiny Pacific Northwest town of Oroville, Washington. One small company of physicists, chemists, engineers, pilots, technicians, and a medical doctor seek the goal of 145 miles (236 km) above the Earth with a payload of 2 passengers and 1 pilot. Two weeks after their first flight, they will fly again.
Cerulean Freight Forwarding Company (CFFC) was founded April 19, 1999 in Washington State with the mission to provide low cost space access to not just the large corporations and the big governments but to the little guy, the little old lady tourist, the small business, and the classroom.
Their exposure has been minimal, advertising budget nearly non-existent, and labor: volunteer. Beginning in 1971, the CFFC parent Aerodesic Research has designed, modified, and redesigned, minimized cost, and optimized safety for the CFFC product line, spacecraft that take off and land at a typical runway, be refueled and examined and takeoff again in 50 minutes economically.
Cerulean Freight, has designed three classes of craft starting small with Kitten and working through Calico to the largest: Angora. Kitten promises to enable microsatellite launch for $105,000 as well as hour long space rides to 145 miles for up to 6 minutes of zero gee experience. Calico is being developed in parallel with the Kitten class. It will provide hypersonic (mach 5+) intercontinental freight and passenger services as well as enable economic satellite and space infrastructure launch of up to 1.8 metric tones (about 4000 lbs) of cargo or 10 passengers for orbital services lasting over 9 hours at 465 miles (750km) up. Angora promises to usher in the 3rd industrial revolution with its low cost to orbit 15 metric tones (33000 lb) payload or 60-passenger design. These space cats promise to bring costs from the NASA standard of about $15,000/kg to below $1,200/kg. $600+ million per launch for a space shuttle equates $19.5 million for higher CFFC payload capacity (23 tones to 23.4 tones respectively).
CFFC promises launches can start 18 months after funding requirements are met ($400,000-or $800,000 letter of intent) and begin putting the private citizen in space for the first time, thrifty style.
Check out this X-Prize applicant at http://www.thriftyspace.com/
For more information contact:
Cerulean Freight Forwarding Company
32986 Suite 6 Hwy 97
Oroville, WA 98844
Phone: (509) 476-2712
Fax: (707) 897-2511
Email: info@thriftyspace.com