Micro-Space is a registered contestant in the X PRIZE competition. The X PRIZE Foundation will award the prize to the first team which achieves suborbital spaceflight twice with a reusable manned craft.

One of the requirements is that the vehicle not rely on government developed hardware. This demands that private parties not only develop the systems, but raise the money to pay for this work. (Actually, no government funded project has ever come close to fulfilling the X PRIZE requirements.) Such an accomplishment will prove that private spaceflight is feasible and affordable.

This is extremely important, for the dreams sparked in 1969 will never be realized without private spaceflight. Pioneers, whether mountain men or religious outcasts, computer hackers or web nerds, are peculiar people. They invest their lives and assets in the pursuit of their dreams, yet they can seldom tap government treasuries. All mankind eventually benefits, but those who lead the way into a frontier often walk alone.

The X PRIZE is a sunburst, illuminating the ongoing spaceflight work in small shops around the world. It empowers these efforts, allowing expanded work, even as it inspires new starts. Thank God that the X PRIZE program is allowing people to believe that the shores of space are not a permanent barrier, but that they themselves could be among the many who go beyond, and travel into space.

Many of the X PRIZE entries are elegant concepts: Micro-Space's is not. Ours is an assemblage rather that a unique design, since our only hope of rapid success lies in using what we have already developed. We are in fact not well suited to such a competition since we have historically followed a systematic plan with an emphasis on reliable and repeatable results rather than on quick accomplishments. We may miss the prize, but we will end up with an operational craft, manufacturable and affordable, which offers suborbital spaceflight to any willing to accept costs, risks and personal challenges comparable to high altitude mountaineering.

RISK flashes automatically into mind when human flight on a rocket is discussed. For more than half of the last century, the response to aircraft was the same. Man seldom survives falling from the sky. Yet the airplane is the safest way to travel. In many ways, rocket flight is even safer since it is above weather and many rockets have virtually no moving parts to fail.

Space flight is risky, but the primary risks are covered with a skydiver's dual parachutes, and a SCUBA diver's breathing gear. The many false ideas about space are dealt with in Space Myths. See also X Development Plan, X Flight and VISION.

The Micro-Space suborbital vehicle is assembled from the modular propulsion units which are used in our other designs. It uses a cockpit core much like a bobsled into which three pressure suited men can squeeze. Various configurations of propulsion strap-ons are possible. To have a shot at winning the X PRIZE it will be necessary to use a large cluster of the 4 inch diameter propulsion modules we are now flight testing. Later flights will be able to use a small number of larger diameter modules as illustrated. There is actually little engineering benefit from the larger size units, as dry weight scales linearly with fuel weight.

Complexity troubles many, and our assembly looks complex. Yet using a large number of motor units can greatly increase reliability. In our designs, the motors have no moving parts, and all are brought up to full thrust while the vehicle is still locked into its launch tower. The propulsion modules are more like big propane torches than "engines". Only after stabilization of all the propulsion units is there a commitment to flight, then the lock down clamps are blown, and the flight begins.

It is easy to focus on big flaming rockets and forget that without adequate controls, manned flight is insane. The primary invention of the Wright Brothers was to understand the importance of effective control and to develop appropriate systems for their craft. A related problem is flight training. The Wright's inched their way into flight, developing the necessary reflexes bit by bit.

This is less practical for rocket flight, and - when pointed toward the sky - a pilot has few directional cues. A substantial part of the Micro-Space effort is directed toward developing the control systems, information displays and flight simulators that our astronauts will need.

Other aspects of our program