In the competition to build the first privately funded, reusable spacecraft, IL Aerospace Technologies (ILAT), an Israeli entrant in the $10 million X Prize competition, have high-rise hopes of snagging the cash.

The group is working on the Negev 5, a concept using a large super-pressure helium balloon as a first stage for flight. That balloon totes both hybrid motor-propelled rocket and the crew capsule to the upper reaches of the atmosphere. High above Earth, rocket engines are ignited that will propel the vehicle and crew into space.

To win the $10 million X Prize a spacecraft must be privately financed and constructed with the ability to fly three people 62 miles (100 kilometers) into space. It also must be reusable, flying twice within a two-week period. The competition's goal is to jump-start the commercialization of space, including space tourism.

Key to the Israeli X Prize design is the fully reusable High-Altitude Launch Platform (HALP). It will haul the pressurized 3-person Negev 5 habitat/rocket skyward. It is equipped with all the essential instrumentation for flight, navigation, communications and life-support. This vehicle will be constructed employing lightweight aircraft-grade alloys and composite materials.

Hitchhiking a free ride via balloon, the Negev 5 will first reach rocket launch altitude of 82,000 feet (25-kilometers) above mean sea level. Most of the atmospheric drag will be overcome while saving precious fuel. The HALP concept makes it possible to design a smaller, lighter and more efficient vehicle. That's an essential criterion for practical low-cost space access, say the X Prize contenders.

ILAT got some recent good news in their quest for the X Prize.

WEBAIR Internet Development, Inc., a web-hosting solutions company is sponsoring the Israeli X Prize team by providing web-development, hosting services and management tools worth $75,000.