If 90 percent of the X-Prize investment is labor, then it can't be recouped in any form, except if the workers went over to the winner and found jobs. Then it would be a 40-to-1 payoff in skilled labor and expertise. But how many people find jobs in aerospace these days? A few? None?

Page 41 of the Commission's Report states:

"Although industry leaders are working to bring young, qualified engineers and scientists into their companies, students are often wary of the peaks and valleys in aerospace careers."

Not so in Canada. Aerospace companies haven't hired university-educated engineers in decades. They hire maintenance engineers, but they are not university educated. They are blue collar, and the regulations state that they must attend approved community colleges for 4 semesters (2 years), and then complete 48 months of apprenticeship training to get their AME license. University engineers instead get a 4 year degree, then get 4 years experience doing office work to get their Professional Engineer license. By law the two professions are distinct, and I maintain that aerospace companies hire few, if any, university graduates.

Maybe it's different in the USA ?