Brian Feeney, and his Da Vinci project are being covered in Wired, as a realistic competitor for the X-Prize.
The plan is for the bullet, with Feeney aboard, to be carried to an altitude of 70,000 to 80,000 feet above Kindersley, Saskatchewan, a prairie town about 250 miles east of Calgary, Alberta.
The rocket will hang about 750 feet below a 200-foot-tall helium balloon. When Feeney fires the rocket's engine, the ship will slip its tether and zoom to about 2,500 mph, 3.5 times the speed of sound. At an altitude of 50 miles or so, the capsule will separate from the rocket body, which will parachute back to the ground.
Then the capsule is supposed to streak to a maximum altitude "in excess of 110 kilometers," Feeney said, or about 70 miles. The capsule will free-fall toward Earth, using parachutes to slow it in the lower atmosphere and air bags to cushion its 15-mph landing.
The entire flight, from ignition to touchdown, is expected to take about 25 minutes.
The article can be read here. Gallery images of the "Wildfire" are here. The attempt is scheduled to be made in late September.
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