"Andy" wrote in message
oups.com...
I recieved Starchaser's new supports magazine yesterday, and it
contained a very whinny response to Burt winning the X-prize is.

Basically they moan that Scaled had full funding, and that I've they
had been supported by Paul Allen they could havce won the prize last
year.

Also they claim that Burt knew of the prize before it was announced,
and " the X prize foundation change the rules to acomndate the
government contracts his company were working on; the original rules
specified that X Prize teams should not recieve any government derived
funding" which is news to me!

Finally they criticise SS1 for being overcomplicated (calling it a
"ferrari when a VW was all that was needed") and for not having
spacesuits for the pilot a nd no launch escape system. The claim that
their "Thunderstar has more to offer than the competion and will corner
a large percentage of the new and evolving markets"
Sore loosers, methinks?


Yeah, I would like to see them try to get up to 100 clicks without killing
themselves. Anyway, what are they going to do now? Are they continuing with
their Thunderstar? I reckon that most X-Prize projects will shut down
eventually now that Rutan has won.