This is complete fiction. There is no such prize that I know of. I did make one up, write a novel about it, and put ITAR, CFIUS, and an unnamed regulatory body in it. (I was working for the FAA at the time and unsure whether we or the FCC would get jurisdiction over space traffic management. Shows how prescient I am.)
Manx Prize, my second book, came about because of all the space prizes being offered, such as the Ansari X Prize for private suborbital flight and the Northrup Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. I was working on regulations about orbital debris and discussing it in the day job regularly. One day I thought to myself someone should offer a prize for getting rid of that. So I invented the Manx Prize, a prize offered by a consortium of private satellite operators situated on the Isle of Man. And then wrote a book.
Secretly–ok, not so secretly–I hope someone does offer a Manx Prize to get rid of space debris. Then, the problem will be solved or reduced and there won’t be a host of out-dated regulations on the books that don’t go away even after the problem is solved.
I first published Manx Prize as an ebook. I’ve had making a paperback version on my to-do list for a very long time. It even has a new cover.
Now. Finally. It’s here!
Charlotte Fisher lives under colliding skies.
It’s the second half of the twenty-first century, and mankind has reached Earth orbit but not much farther. Orbital debris is a by-product of the industrial activity, and it’s dangerous both to everyone topside and the bottom lines of the corporations offering a prize to get rid of it.
Charlotte heads a team chasing the Manx Prize for the first successful, controlled de-orbit of a dead satellite. To win, she and her team must out-think and out-engineer a cheating competitor, dodge a collusive regulator, and withstand the temptations offered by a large and powerful seastead.
The sky’s not the limit. It’s the challenge.
If you like hard science fiction, impossible odds, and a touch of romance, there’s a greater than even chance you’ll love Manx Prize. Buy Manx Prize to join the race for space today!