In many ways, it’s a new form of space race -- between governmental paper approval and entrepreneurial countdowns. Leading the pack are some two dozen teams now in competition for the $10 million X Prize -- a true suborbital sweepstakes intended to help shape public space travel.

Arguably, the most maverick of these groups is Burt Rutan and his approach to crack open the heavens for passenger suborbital treks. Flight experiments, engine firings, and checkout simulations are already underway. Drop tests for SpaceShipOne appear to be near at hand, a key step toward blasting off on suborbital missions.

In response to a SPACE.com email inquiry, Rutan, whose company, Scaled Composites, is based in Mojave, California, offered several viewpoints regarding regulatory issues now swirling around suborbital passenger-carrying craft. He noted that he is not yet ready to bring all the details of this issue to a public forum, nor does he have the time to properly support a public debate.

Furthermore, "the regulatory process for airplanes makes a distinct difference in requirements for research flights, and for the commercial business of flying passengers. The former merely restricts the flight operations to areas that historically have shown to provide adequate protection for those on the ground. The latter requires extensive analysis and testing of flight hardware as well as a means to assure that the commercial systems conform to the test articles. These regulations have successfully provided public safety of not only those on the ground but also the passengers. This process is mature, with hundreds of applications and decades of experience."

For reusable or manned commercial spacecraft, AST has regulatory language in place, Rutan explained. "However, there has yet to be a complete application for license, much less the ability to assess the suitability of the regulations to a program with flying hardware."

Rutan said that their initial concern is that AST considers no distinction between research flight tests and certification for commercial operations.

"Until this is done, we believe there will not be a proper environment to allow proof-of-concept research, and may result in the real progress being made by foreign competition," Rutan said.

"I want to be sure it is clear that we have no current disagreement with AST on what the requirements should be for certification of commercial space operations," Rutan said. "As we have found with our many previous aircraft development programs, it is helpful to understand certification requirements in order to best structure an initial research test program."