ANSARI ANSARI X PRIZE

It seems as if Rutan may get it.
The prize expires next January, so does anyone know, even after the
Ansari
contribution, does the foundation have 10 million?
If some one one wins , and they don't have all the money, do they
still have to pay it off?

On 14 May 2004 01:56:36 -0700, in a place far, far away,
(Al Jackson) made the phosphor on my monitor glow in
such a way as to indicate that:

It seems as if Rutan may get it.
The prize expires next January, so does anyone know, even after the
Ansari
contribution, does the foundation have 10 million?

No, but if the prize is won, the ten million will be paid by the
insurance company that took (and lost, he he...) the bet.

In article ,
Al Jackson wrote:
The prize expires next January, so does anyone know, even after the
Ansari contribution, does the foundation have 10 million?

What expires January 1st is the insurance policy which guarantees the full
$10M. The foundation essentially bought insurance against someone
winning: they paid a premium that cost them most of the money they did
have, and got an insurance policy which pays $10M when someone wins. The
insurance company is not stupid, and so the policy has an expiry date.

The X-Prize technically still exists if nobody wins before the deadline,
but it will be back to Square One on fundraising for it.

If some one one wins , and they don't have all the money, do they
still have to pay it off?

I believe the fine print says that you get whatever they have in the fund
at the time. The $10M was a hope, not a promise.
--
MOST launched 30 June; science observations running | Henry Spencer
since Oct; first surprises seen; papers pending. |

(Al Jackson) wrote in message . com...
It seems as if Rutan may get it.
The prize expires next January, so does anyone know, even after the
Ansari
contribution, does the foundation have 10 million?
If some one one wins , and they don't have all the money, do they
still have to pay it off?

The Ansari contribution was actually made some time ago (before the
insurance bet), and only announced now. They don't have any
significant amount of money left over.

If nobody wins this year, all they get is the trophy.

John Carmack
www.armadilloaerospace.com

(Al Jackson) writes:

It seems as if Rutan may get it.
The prize expires next January, so does anyone know, even after the
Ansari contribution, does the foundation have 10 million?

No. What they do have, is an insurance policy that says, "in the
unfortunate event that some nutjob with a rocket calls your bluff
and actually collects the prize, we'll cover your $10E6 liability".

This insurance policy expires next January. The X-Prize people were
only able to afford the policy in the first place because the insurance
people were sure it was a publicity-stunt bluff, that anyone other than
NASA would have to be a nutjob to imagine they could fly a rocket into
space, and that nobody actually would.

As this is now *clearly* not the case, the insurance company is clearly
not going to offer an extension or renewal on the policy. Thus, the
January deadline.


If some one one wins , and they don't have all the money, do they
still have to pay it off?

If someone wins before January, the X-prize people I believe are legally
obligated to pay the winner $10E6. Fortunately, if someone wins before
January, the insurance company is legally obligated to pay the X-prize
people $10E6.


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