Originally posted by Alan Boyle on MSNBC.com

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Robert Bigelow, the millionaire behind Bigelow Aerospace and a plan to develop inflatable space modules for commercial use, is floating the idea of setting up a $50 million prize for the development of a new orbital space vehicle.

In this week's issue of Aviation Week & Space Technology, Bigelow is quoted as saying he'd be willing to contribute $25 million to the prize pool. Other partners, perhaps including NASA, would have to come up with the rest of the money. "America's Space Prize" would be patterned after the Ansari X Prize for suborbital spaceflight, a $10 million award that could well be won in the next week or so.

Bigelow's idea has been circulating on the space rumor mill for some time now, and I referred to the concept indirectly a couple of weeks ago. Orbital spaceflight is substantially harder to do than suborbital flight — just compare the estimates for SpaceShipOne's effort ($20 million-plus over roughly three years) and China's space program ($2 billion or so annually).

Some observers believe the commercial space travel market won't catch fire until private enterprise makes the leap to orbit. Others, however, are worried that a big-money orbital prize, offered with NASA backing, would merely encourage business as usual in human spaceflight. It'll be interesting to see if Bigelow's big idea actually flies, and how high.

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