The Canadian Space Race

The da Vinci Project, established in 1996, is a competitor in the International X PRIZE Competition and is in a quest for the first manned, non-government private/commercial space flight. The all-volunteer da Vinci project is the largest volunteer technology project in Canadian history with upwards of 100,000 man-hours having been spent on the project thus far. The Project's head office and operations are based in Toronto with regional teams located in Montreal, Regina and Vancouver and St Petersburg, Russia. The da Vinci Project has a long-term goal to expand the public interest in the field of manned space development especially among Canada's youth. Education and inspiration is the cornerstone of the da Vinci Project mission...

While privatisation is generally considered bad, space exploration is one area where even the simplest projects are outrageously expensive. We all remember the infamous "space pen" which cost nearly a million dollars to develop (though that was privately funded). The high level of knowedge required and the relative infancy of the industry mean that there is a lot of room for research to get the costs down to reasonable levels. If teams like the Da Vinci project are successful, it will make the space industry much more accessible to organisations without NASA's budget and defense contractors.

The Da Vinci project plans to lift their manned capsule to 24.4km using a helium balloon, after which it will use conventional rockets to reach an altitude of 120km. They will be announcing a launch date later this month.

(note: I am in no way affiliated with the Da Vinci project, I just think it's cool).

Note: astronauts technology website privately funded later this month