Very minor quibble
<We spent about $30 million on the entire project, including all costs and company overhead, which was about 1/4 of 1 percent of the $1.2 billion shot to heck on the X-33.
You mean 2.5% of course. :-) Your Roton is still an amazing accomplishment. How much money do you estimate is needed to build a LEO-capable Roton (I take it the current vehicle is a prototype designed for tropospheric testing only)?