OK, I'm not an aerospace engineer, so maybe someone will help me out. Have any details been released on the thermal protection system? Was the decision to go with tiles on the Space Shuttle in part determined by its size, and is a smaller craft such as this likely to accomodate something more cost effective than tiles? What might the alternatives be?

I was hoping for a capsule, basically because I like simplicity. While Lockmart's design has wings, it appears that it is designed for vertical landings, and the wings are essentially a safety feature in that they provide more cross-range capability. Is that correct? If so, then it appears that it is not quite a "mini-shuttle", which is great.

The decision to go with tiles on Shuttle was due to a combination of things. Per Jenkins, USAF had been pushing for an aluminum orbiter, due to a looming shortage of titanium and machine tools to work it as well as the expectation that a titanium orbiter would cost about three times as much as an aluminum one and involve a greater production development risk. The development of the tile material made an aluminum airframe feasible. The aluminum airframe with silica tiles ultimately won out over the initial titanium hot structure/superalloy shingles concept mainly due to cost.

Unfortunately, I'm not free to address your other points.