Joe Strout :

In article ,
"Jeff Findley" wrote:

Considering the small size of the X-Prize, I'd be surprised if they
didn't
have, at least, a vision of this happening. Even if they win the prize,
I'm
sure they will have spent more than $10 million on this project. The
only
way to ever get your money's worth out of this is to turn it into a fully
commercial enterprise with follow-on vehicles.

All true -- apparently Allen has spent about $25M on SS1 -- but it was
never certain that he ever intended to get his money's worth out of it.
He may have been doing it for a lark, or for the thrill of the contest,
or just because he's a space buff and wants to go into space himself.

So I'm glad to see some confirmation (from what seems like a reasonably
reliable source) that there is more planned.

It would seem to be appropriate to develop and present such plans after
your
technology demonstrator proves the concept.

Quite so. I can't wait to see what comes next!

I am not sure the present design will scale up well for six or more people
but :-

Just remember if it is a B. Rutan design your first words will probably be:

"Huh! How the #%^*$ is that thing going to work?"

Then you will get a blinding flash of light in your mind as the design sinks
in followed with:

"Neat!" or "Cool!", your choice.

Earl Colby Pottinger

--
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