This is an extract from the details on the X-Prize site: "The flight will start with the lift-off of the rocket, a clustered unit made up of 4 hybrid engines. Producing a maximum acceleration of 3.5 Gs, the engines will burn until the vehicle has reached an altitude of 34km where the engines will stop. Then the vehicle will coast to 120km. After about 5 minutes of weightlessness, the pilot will orient the thermal shield for descent into the atmosphere" There is not a lot of detail here, somewhat reminiscent of the Acceleration Engineering effort. Also, this is the only photo of any hardware available. Looks like a painted cardboard tube with fins on, to me. What does it do? There is some talk, in the downloadable team briefing, of a hybrid rocket motor, using polyester resin and LOX. Has anyone got one of these to work so that chunks of the fuel don't get detached and blown out? The team briefing says that drop tests of the capsule have been carried out, the highest from 96,000 feet. Tests on the hybrid rocket engine have also been done, but it looks as if the project is a long way from completion, as of Jan 2004.

There is now a website (with but one page on it, so far [April 13th 2004]) to go to. Please click the image below. Also, the team kindly let Spacefleet have a brief update.