team progress summary

It'd be nice to see a list of teams orderded by recent events/milestone. Some of the team's sites look like they haven't been updated for ages.

With this list it'd be easier to get a whole picture of the race.

I agree, with us being this close to the end of the competition, the team's websites should be kept up to date or the X-prize website should have "progress reports" on all teams, not just to pick a team by the week and focus on them and what they are doing and where they are at. I would like to know where all the teams are at at any given time in this crucial stage of the competition.

GeoBum*

The problem with a progress report page, is that many of the teams are working in secret, so how would you know that the page was accurate?

This is true. Most of the teams are working in secret but if there was a generic progress report to let people know how far long they are, what accomplishments they have made (that the public can be made aware of), images of the possible Astronauts, craft design, etc., just something to keep the public incheck with what they are doing...without compromising the competition, of course...

GeoBum*

I think all teams that are actually doing something, are already posting their progress on their websites. Others just dont probably dont have anything to report.
Its not like acquiring some webspace or a mere blog/journal would be expensive or very time consuming these days, so lack of one means just probably lack of need for one.

A number of posts have been asking for a timeline or comparison between teams. People seem to want a sort of NASCAR ticker that shows how many laps someone is behind, and how many laps to go.

With each of the teams taking a totally unique approach there are very little if any universal milestones that apply across all teams. This makes it almost impossible to compare. I suppose we could brainstorm what some of the universal milestones might be and then investigate to see which teams have accomplished which. I'd suggest the following as universal milestones:

Final Assembly: First time all the flight-ready pieces are assembled together.
Full Duration Flight Engine Test: Final Engine(s) tested for the full duration of the expected flight.

I agree that there should be something in the way of current progress / gossip / etc.

Maybe there could be a forum for each contest entrant that would be moderated by someone from that team or by some other volunteer, or perhaps a single forum dedicated to this purpose for all entrants.

I believe that it is necessary or at least desirable to communicate what is actually going on. People who are interested in this stuff have more than a conceptual interest.

Burt has apparently fixed their control problems. Ref. http://www.space.com/businesstechnology ... 31103.html

The next step should be an air start of the hybrid rocket engine. And if successful, there should not be much flight test left to do before an XPRIZE attempt.

Godspeed Burt Rutan!

Still some licensing issues. Only XCOR seems to have made it through the wringer at this point. Scaled & Armadillo are still waiting.