There's a nice survey of what's going on in government and private launch over at Technology Review (apparently finished up in the wake of the Columbia loss, because he puts it in the context of the story).

David Chandler interviewed me for this article a few weeks ago, and it turned out pretty well (though he only has a brief quote from me). There's a lot of discussion of suborbital as a stepping stone orbit, and what XCOR and Pioneer, among others, are up to.

Space Adventure?s backing of Xcor and other rocket companies provides a synergy that might be crucial for realizing the decades-old visions of reusable rockets, says Bruce Lusignan, professor of electrical engineering at Stanford University and director of the Center for International Cooperation in Space, a worldwide consortium of universities. He says revenues from space-related tourism could be used to finance a new generation of tourist-oriented launch vehicles, and ?that might be the core to building the capability up. That might be the right way to go.? And that means the EZ-Rocket?that unimposing test vehicle at the vast Mojave Airport?just might end up being the first PC of a new space age.

People are starting to get it.

As Glenn says, read the whole thing.

[Via Future Pundit.]

This is an outstanding article, thanks Rand.

The one criticism I do have for the whole thing is that they continue to quote a decade for real change in the reusable launch paradigm. It's been ten years out for as long as I remember.

I think it is a substitute for real commitment, where it appears to be "forward thinking", but in substance gives a lot of wiggle-room when the schedule isn't met.

XCor, in particular, seems to discard this sort of pronouncement in favor of doing something now. It's very encouraging.