TGV Rockets, Inc.

This team is based in Bethesda, Maryland, and is led by Kent Ewing. TGV's M.I.C.H.E.L.L.E.-B (Modular Incremental Compact High Energy Low-Cost Launch Example) vehicle is a manned reusable sub-orbital rocket. The vehicle takes off vertically under rocket power, firing its LOX-hydrocarbon engines for approximately 80 seconds. During the ascent, the pilot uses varied power settings to manage dynamic pressure loads during the 200-second ride to a height of 100 kilometers. Michelle-B spends 200 seconds in micro-gravity, where objects are nearly weightless.

Michelle-B never exceeds 5 Gs during its entire flight. After cruising to a maximum altitude of 104 km it then enters into a gravity induced descent. A flexible aero-shield is deployed to reduce speed and moderate re-entry temperatures. The drag shield shaped like a badminton shuttlecock and slows the vehicle for most of the descent. At about a mile up, the pilot lights the engines to further slow the vehicle to landing speed. At approximately 3 km, the shield begins retracting and landing power is applied, with the craft making a soft vertical landing. The pilot manages terminal maneuvers and manages all systems.

The Michelle-B is described as an inexpensive, reliable, reusable, suborbital launch vehicle -- a mini van to space - a small, lightweight vehicle with a high flight rate that operates vertically from any place in the world. It is the size and shape of a standard cargo container: 40 feet tall and 8 feet in diameter. Its modular design permits easy upgrades to all of the vehicle's systems. It weighs eight tons dry and 28 tons wet.

Kent Ewing is quoted as saying "Most of the great aviation achievement of the 20th century were driven by prizes. The feats of the Wright Brothers, Charles Lindbergh & Paul MacReady were all inspired by prize competitions. The X PRIZE is the first great prize of the 21st Century"

The Web site for this team is at: www.tgv-rockets.com

Pablo DeLeon

This team is based in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and is led by Pablo DeLeon, and the ship is named Gauchito (The Little Cowboy). The flight sequence for this entry starts with the lift-off of the rocket, a clustered unit made up of 4 hybrid engines. Producing a maximum acceleration of 3.5 G's, the engines will burn until the vehicle has reached an altitude of 34km where the engines will stop. Then the vehicle will coast to 120km. After about 5 minutes of weightlessness, the pilot will orient the thermal shield for descent into the atmosphere, for a soft landing by parachute.

Pablo DeLeon is quoted as saying "I believe the X PRIZE is the most important and original idea to make space available for everyone in the near future. We in Argentina have been considering the idea of making a manned suborbital flight since 1984. Now the X PRIZE gives as an extra incentive, not only because of the cash prize, but because the world attention will be there, an attention which will also nurture the space tourism business."

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