Rather than continue to compete against the government, Beal Aerospace has decided to cease operations. What provoked this decision? Well, X-33 was bad enough for the private launch vehicle industry, since no investor wants to put money into a company when the government (in the form of NASA) is seen to be funding a competitor, particularly one the size of Boeing or Lockheed. The 'Space Launch Initiative', which supercedes X-33 without it even flying once, ups the government ante from $1.5bn to a staggering proposed $4bn. It's not hard to see how an investor is likely to react to that.

Beal Aerospace's recent problems are covered in an Associated Press article, available at href=http://www.express-news.net/auth/ennews/ap/texas/d0613.html.