Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

X-ray cluster measurements interpreted with a universal baryon/gas mass fraction can theoretically serve as a cosmological distance probe. We examine issues of cosmological sensitivity for current (e.g., Chandra X-ray Observatory, XMM-Newton) and next generation (e.g., Con-X, XEUS) observations, along with systematic uncertainties and biases. To give competitive next generation constraints on dark energy, we find that systematics will need to be controlled to better than 1percent and any evolution in f_gas (and other cluster gas properties) must be calibrated so the residual uncertainty is weaker than (1+z)0.03.