Determining the Winner

How will the X-prize staff verify the altitude of a ship? Are they going to have a third party do it since, if I remember right, there's an insurance company that might have a lot of dough on the line in the event of a winner? Also, how exactly do they plan to verify the altitude from a technical standpoint? Are they going to fly hardware on the ship itself or gauge the altitude entirely from the ground or some combo?

The relevant sections of the X-Prize rulesstate:

6. Entrants must specify and provide the X PRIZE Rules Committee with their take-off and landing location, and the date of their launch, not less than 30 days prior to any flight attempt.

8. ... The X PRIZE Review Board members, or a duly designated Review Board representative, must monitor all flight attempts, and any period of time in-between scheduled flights.

10. Entrants will be required to carry an X PRIZE-provided flight recorder to monitor the flight profile and altitude achieved.

Hope this answers your question.