The interesting thing about this team is that what you saw above, and in the team briefing, is not what you got if you go to the team's website, where you encountered a different image and concept altogether, above right. On the X-Prize site, the idea was to modify a commercial jet by the addition of a rocket motor. This is a straightforward concept, which must have been studied by many others, too. The briefing gives a convincing run-down of what may be expected from this craft. I'm not an aircraft engineer, but the prospect of a jet designed for subsonic flight being forced to go supersonic, as it would have to be, worries me a bit. On to the Condor-X. This, completely different, design is a rocket-powered craft. The large single wing is said to be a fabric-covered aluminium truss. Also on this site, it is said that speeds will reach Mach 2.6 on the ascent. With a fabric-covered wing?? Oh well, I'm sure they knew what they were talking about.

Details of convincing progress towards the X-Prize attempt are hard to find and the stark difference between what is on the X-Prize site and their website is not encouraging. click the X-Prize logo below to go to the "tour2space" website, which seems only to have a single image on it now, in January 2009.