SpaceDev is to design, develop and test a small common booster capable of producing about 100,000 pounds of thrust, almost nine times that of the SpaceDev rocket motor technology used in Paul Allen's SpaceShipOne which won the $10 million Ansari X Prize last year. Test firings of the prototype rocket motor are to begin next year.

Under the contract, SpaceDev will be paid on a cost plus fixed fee basis related to the project. SpaceDev will own the technology that it develops, although the Air Force will retain certain licensing rights related to the technology.

SpaceDev anticipates that the technology will validate ground test configuration of critical elements of the hybrid motor, such as the injectors, igniters, the motor grain and insulation. The overall goal is to demonstrate successful ignition and operation of a booster stage hybrid motor that can produce a reliable and reproducible thrust profile, with high performance.

"We believe that this contract will enable us to improve in a cost-effective way on the technology we developed for the SpaceShipOne project," said SpaceDev founding chairman and chief executive, Jim Benson.

"We also believe that this technology will be another significant step toward developing our own reliable, low cost, safe cargo and crew vehicles, like our proposed SpaceDev Dream Chaser orbital human space transportation vehicle. We believe the technology can also be adapted for use alone as a sounding rocket or target in our proposed SpaceDev Streaker small launch vehicle family."

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