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GillfabT Panels Assist Canyon Space Team's Bid for X Prize
- 20 May 2003

Canyon Space Team

Seattle, Washington - 20 May 2003 - M.C. Gill Corporation is proud to have products specified by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and other NASA Centers for use in space vehicles, including some for historic missions such as the Apollo spacecraft that carried astronauts to the Moon.

With a new era of "space tourism" on the horizon, GillfabT carbon sandwich panels are being incorporated into preliminary models of the prototypes constructed by the Canyon Space Team as it goes after the X Prize. These panels have an aluminum honeycomb core.

The Canyon Space Team's ship prototypes make test runs in the safety of rural areas using scaled down versions of the spacecraft to improve upon their flight characteristics. The team expects to gradually refine their design until perfected, then to construct a full size, operational version capable of taking three people on the ride of a lifetime. Their ultimate goal is to take the $10,000,000 X PRIZE.

The purpose of the X PRIZE is to focus on the leap to a low cost space travel system through competition among numerous entrepreneurs and propulsion experts around the world. The prize will be awarded to the first team achieving the following:

  • Put three civilian passengers in space, which is defined as at least 100 km (~62 miles) above the Earth.
  • Return those three civilians successfully to the Earth.
  • Repeat the procedure within 14 days with the same vehicle.
  • Accomplish this all with less than 10% government funding in their entire program.
  • Have their vehicle be 90% reusable, as determined by dry weight.

There are many other areas where M.C. Gill products could be used in such a spacecraft, such as for interior walls and structures, liner material and wing structures. The company is always looking for new applications of its strong, light weight and versatile high performance composite products.

For Additional Information:

Canyon Space Team: www.canyonspaceteam.org

George Sorensen - Marketing Communications Manager
Phone: 626 443-4022
Fax: 626 350-5880
Email: info@mcgillcorp.com
www.mcgillcorp.com

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