Posted: Wed, May 5, 2004, 1:01 PM ET (1701 GMT)
The X Prize, a $10-million prize for commercial suborbital RLVs, announced a major new donation and corresponding name change on Wednesday. The prize foundation said it had received a multimillion-dollar donation from Iranian-born entrepreneurs Anousheh Ansari and Amir Ansari. The exact size of the donation was not announced. To recognize the donation, the prize foundation said the prize would be renamed the Ansari X Prize Competition. The donation is the second major deal the prize has announced in as any months: in March the foundation inked a "seven-figure" sponsorship deal with the Champ Car World Series racing circuit. The Ansari X Prize offers the $10-million prize to the first commercially-developed suborbital RLV capable of carrying three people that flies to 100 kilometers altitude twice in a two-week period. The actual prize money is secured through an insurance policy that expires at the end of this year.

Related Links:

•  X Prize press release