XCOR Aerospace announced (http://www.xcor.com/press-releases/2009/09-09-02_XCOR_reaches_significant_milestones_in_lynx_engine_program.html) today that it has reached several significant milestones in the 5K18 rocket engine test program. This is the engine that powers XCOR's Lynx suborbital spacecraft. The engine can be seen running in several newly released videos (http://www.xcor.com/press-releases/2009/09-09-02_XCOR_reaches_significant_milestones_in_lynx_engine_program.html#shockdiamonds) including a video demonstrating the very stable "shock diamond" pattern visible in the engine's supersonic exhaust.
Десять лет отметила компания на днях. Отлично работают.
ЦитироватьДесять лет отметила компания на днях. Отлично работают.
10 лет "отлично работают" и до сих пор никуда и никак? ;)
Авмич, ну нельзя же так провоцировать! :)
ЦитироватьЦитироватьДесять лет отметила компания на днях. Отлично работают.
10 лет "отлично работают" и до сих пор никуда и никак? ;)
Авмич, ну нельзя же так провоцировать! :)
Так они мелкие зело, мельче Рутана. :)
И есть у них уже "куда и как", прототип с ЖРД летал. :)
ЦитироватьЦитироватьДесять лет отметила компания на днях. Отлично работают.
10 лет "отлично работают" и до сих пор никуда и никак? ;)
Авмич, ну нельзя же так провоцировать! :)
Белл, ты совсем газет не читаешь, что ли? У XCORа уже два разных ракетоплана летало. Линкс - третий.
И куда, и как... тебе и госзаказы, и экспрайзовские заказы на рокетрейсеры... Контора отлично работает, а вовсе не никуда и никак.
ЦитироватьИ есть у них уже "куда и как", прототип с ЖРД летал. :)
Какой прототип? Прототип чего? Рокетрейсер - вполне себе для самостоятельных целей аппарат сделанный. Изирокет - прототип примерно как X-15. Многократно летал, испытывал разные варианты использования, пилотирования... Аппараты существенно разные, если первый - переделанный Лон Изи, то второй - заново для этой задачи сделан. Оба достаточно отличаются от Линкса. Летали побольше, например, Энергии, так что теперь, РККЭ прототипы делает? :)
ЦитироватьБелл, ты совсем газет не читаешь, что ли?
У меня не хватает терпения долистывать до тех полос, где петитом пишут об успехах этих ребят :)
ЦитироватьЦитироватьБелл, ты совсем газет не читаешь, что ли?
У меня не хватает терпения долистывать до тех полос, где петитом пишут об успехах этих ребят :)
А, так ты выпуски новостей Роскосмоса читаешь :) . Ну-ну.
ЦитироватьЦитироватьЦитироватьБелл, ты совсем газет не читаешь, что ли?
У меня не хватает терпения долистывать до тех полос, где петитом пишут об успехах этих ребят :)
А, так ты выпуски новостей Роскосмоса читаешь :) . Ну-ну.
Тоже только если хватает терпения после ленты новостей НК и форума :)
И на форуме XCOR давно известен, и в НК о нём писалось... То, что ты не знаешь - не значит, что успехов у компании нет.
ЦитироватьЦитироватьИ есть у них уже "куда и как", прототип с ЖРД летал. :)
Какой прототип? Прототип чего? Рокетрейсер - вполне себе для самостоятельных целей аппарат сделанный. Изирокет - прототип примерно как X-15. Многократно летал, испытывал разные варианты использования, пилотирования... Аппараты существенно разные, если первый - переделанный Лон Изи, то второй - заново для этой задачи сделан. Оба достаточно отличаются от Линкса. Летали побольше, например, Энергии, так что теперь, РККЭ прототипы делает? :)
"Прототип" в том смысле, что "вообще самолёт с ЖРД". :)
avmich, согласитесь, что их не так чтобы дофигища было вообще. :)
Их было, безусловно, немного :( . А именно, их было два разных дизайна, летавших многократно на ракетной тяге. Но - для небольшой компании, которой 10 лет от роду и которая готовит третий ракетоплан, выше которого - из пилотируемых крылатых аппаратов - летали только X-15, SS1 и Шаттлы - это вполне серьёзное достижение. XCOR - несомненно успешен.
Насколько я понимаю состояние на сейчас, во-первых, XCOR сдвинул первые полёты на 2011. Всё же :( . Во-вторых, планы сейчас такие - сначала делается Mark 1, летает, по его результатам делается Mark 2, который может достаточно существенно отличаться (хотя класс аппарата тот же).
Из нетехнических продвижений - анонс о работе с Южной Кореей. Что-то корейцы активизировались по ракетам :) .
Кстати, я забыл Гризон ли это сказал (по-моему, он), но была информация, что главная причина почему высота Марк 1 ограничена -- это материал корпуса. Якобы они ожидают, что что-нибудь придется переделывать, и его делают из значительно (в разы) более дешевого композита, вроде стеклопластика. Этот композит можно резать и склеивать за долю цены по результатам полетов. Когда станет ясно, что сверхзвуковая аэродинамика и переход на-от сверхзвука отработан, сделают конечную форму из композита, который выдерживает нагрев, и получится Марк 2. Ну и движок помощнее. То есть это не потому, что они неспособны сразу раскатать двигатель и планер для Марк 2. Просто знают, что много неизвестного.
http://www.xcor.com/press-releases/2010/10-09-20_XCOR_completes_supersonic_wind_tunnel_tests.html
С картинками.
-- P
http://www.avia.ru/news/?id=1290519153
ЦитироватьРегулярные суборбитальные перевозки начнутся в 2014 году[/size]
23 ноября, AVIA.RU – Королевские голландские авиалинии KLM подписали соглашение с аэрокосмической компанией Space Experience Curacao (SXC), сообщает CNews. Партнеры собираются организовать совместный проект по использованию суборбитальных кораблей XCOR Lynx для регулярных перевозок.
В прошлом месяце SXC и компания XCOR Aerospace объявили о намерении использования суборбитальных космических аппаратов и об ожидаемом разрешении правительства США на создание «космопорта» на острове Кюрасао для базирования кораблей Lynx. Первые полеты планируется начать в январе 2014 года.
После подписания соглашения KLM будет рекламировать и продавать авиабилеты на суборбитальные рейсы, а XCOR - оказывать оперативную поддержку и обслуживание кораблей в космопорте Кюрасао.
Lynx - это прежде всего коммерческий суборбитальный корабль, который способен поднимать пассажиров и грузы на полчаса на высоту до 100 км, а затем приземляться по-самолетному на обычную взлетно-посадочную полосу длиной 2400 метров.
Как и самолет, Lynx взлетает горизонтально с разбегом, но вместо реактивного двигателя используется встроенные в планер ракетные двигатели. Этим он выгодно отличается от других аналогичных проектов, которые используют самолеты или ракеты-носители. Lynx оснащен четырьмя ракетными двигателями XR-5K18 с тягой в вакууме по 12,9 кН, которые работают на керосине и жидком кислороде.
Суборбитальный самолет выполнен полностью из композиционных материалов, с дополнительной тепловой защитой на носу и кромках крыльев. Площадь крыла рассчитана на посадку на умеренных скоростях приземления, около 166 км/ч, что делает самолет достаточно простым и безопасным в управлении.
Lynx должен выполнять до четырех рейсов в день, с низкой стоимостью обслуживания, быстрой подготовкой к повторному вылету и высокой безопасностью и надежностью.
В кабину двухместного Lynx можно взять пассажира в скафандре или груз массой до 120 кг. Самолет также может нести надфюзеляжный контейнер весом до 280 кг, который может сбрасываться на большой высоте и пролетать до 700 км с 11-ю минутами микрогравитации. Это делает Lynx многоцелевой машиной.
На avia.ru, похоже, не догадываются о том, что изготавливаемый Lynx летает только на 60 км...
А до Lynx Mark II ещё как Ивану Федорову пешком до Америки... По крайней мере в 2014 году не полетит, не успеют довести.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2010/11/xcor-rocket-plane.html
ЦитироватьKLM Royal Dutch Airlines to sell rides on XCOR's rocket plane[/size]
November 17, 2010 | 8:12 pm
As part of its frequent flier program, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines will be offering future suborbital flights on a rocket plane to outer space.
Quite a perk, eh?
The airline said Wednesday that it would market and sell flights to customers through a joint venture with Space Experience Curacao, a government-backed space tourism company founded on the Caribbean island.
"KLM will be supporting future suborbital flights through purchases, inclusion in their frequent flyer program, inclusion in future KLM vacation packages to Curacao, and other yet-to-be-named support," the airline said in a statement.
In early October, Space Experience Cura
http://spaceexperiencecuracao.com/blog/press-release-april-12-2011/
ЦитироватьPress Release April 12 2011
Countdown has begin for SXC[/size]
Amsterdam, April 12, 2011 – Space Expedition Curacao is steadily progressing on its way to the first flight in 2014. Today, exactly 50 years after Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space, the Dutch space travel initiative together with XCOR, the American designer and producer of the spacecraft, announced which milestones were recently reached.
The international press gathered at the National Aerospace Laboratory (Nederlands Lucht- en Ruimtevaartlaboratorium) and heard Ben Droste, SXC founder, explain: " The reason we chose the NLR for this press conference, is that our SXC project is important to the scientific world as well. The Lynx spacecraft can carry out scientific projects in weightless conditions and is able to send smaller satellites into orbit, something that is experiencing a growing demand. In order to stimulate this knowledge platform, KLM has developed a format for students of Aerospace Engineering of the Technical University in Delft to join one of the first flights."
Ticket sales commenced: many celebrities among first co-pilot astronauts
At the press conference, important commercial news was also shared. The official ticket sales commenced April 1st, 2011. The first 100 flights will be carried out by a group of so called 'Founder Astronauts', who are invited personally. Among the first fifteen founder astronauts are some well-known people.
One of them is Armin van Buuren (34) who was elected Best DJ in the world last year, for the fourth time in a row. His radio show 'A State Of Trance' attracts around 30 million listeners each time it airs. Van Buuren: "Of course, it's like a dream to me! What DJ doesn't dream of going three times faster than his own sound? And the explosion of silence at the height of 100 km. I can't wait. A heart rate of 200 BPM should be achievable."
Martin Schr
http://www.glamour.ru/celebrity/news/428244/
ЦитироватьСупермодель Даутцен Крез вошла в список людей, выбранных голландской компанией Space Expedition Curacao из желающих полететь в космос.
Компания намерена осуществить первый коммерческий полет уже совсем скоро: сто космических туристов смогут осуществить свою мечту в 2014 году. Сколько будет стоить удовольствие — не сообщается.
:oops:
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/64015.jpg)
Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/64015.jpg)
Я бы тоже с ней слетал :oops:
ЦитироватьЯ бы тоже с ней слетал :oops:
ЦитироватьЦитироватьСколько будет стоить удовольствие — не сообщается.
:oops:
:D
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Giants-hitting-coach-plans-trip-to-outer-space-f?urn=mlb-wp5438
ЦитироватьGiants hitting coach plans trip to outer space for 2014[/size]
By 'Duk
The Houston Astros. The Rocket. Bill "Spaceman" Lee. Blue Moon Odom.
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/18096.jpg)
Hensley "Bam-Bam" Meulens will join all of the above when it comes to baseball players associated with the outer limits.
Only the San Francisco Giants hitting coach will have a much stronger claim on space than just a nickname. That's because Meulens is actually going to be blasted into orbit during a space expedition that's being planned by his native Curacao.
It sounds like a joke, but it's 100 percent true. As MLB.com's Jenifer Langosch notes in a recent profile of Meulens, the outgoing former player has been selected as an inaugural "astronaut" for "Space Expedition Curacao," a commercial space tourism program the Caribbean nation is trying to launch by 2014.
From MLB.com:
The first 100 flights, though, have been set aside for a group of so called "Founder Astronauts." Meulens will join three Dutch celebrities — a disc jockey, an air travel pioneer and a supermodel — on flight No. 1. [...]
"It hasn't clicked," said Meulens, who will go through intense space training classes in advance. "It still hasn't clicked yet."
Luxury Launches says it'd cost about $90,000 for a regular person to buy a seat aboard the space craft, which is being designed by XCOR, an American company.
Meulens, though, is cashing in the miles he accrued by becoming Curacao's first major leaguer in the mid-'80s. Even though he had only 496 professional at-bats after being a prospect for the New York Yankees, he became a national hero and players like Andruw Jones(notes), Jair Jurrjens(notes) and Randall Simon have followed him into the bigs. The nation off the coast of Venezuela is mad about baseball.
Soon Curacao will also be mad about space — if everything goes according to plan — and it will again be Meulens who's leading the charge. He'll need a new nickname, though, if he actually makes it up there — any suggestions?
Related: Jair Jurrjens, Andruw Jones, Houston Astros, New York Yankees, San Francisco Giants, ModernTube, Baseball songs on BLS
http://www.parabolicarc.com/2011/06/14/exclusive-pictures-xcors-lynx-built/
ЦитироватьExclusive Pictures of XCOR's Lynx Being Built[/size]
Posted by Doug Messier
on June 14, 2011, at 4:12 am
I paid my first visit to XCOR since last summer. The shop floor in their hanger at the Mojave Air & Space Port was much more crowded with test articles and equipment than the last time I visited. They are about to get a lot busier over the next year as the company makes a push to build the Lynx Mark 1 test vehicle.
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/18663.png)
The most striking new element I noticed was the vehicle duck-billed nose, which has been attached to the engineering model.Most of the nose is there; the final version will extend out another two feet or so.
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/18664.png)
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/18665.png)
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/18666.png)
The cockpit and controls have become much better defined since last year.
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/18667.jpg)
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/18668.png)
The above photo shows the vehicle from back looking forward into the cockpit. This is the exact length of the vehicle, whose wings extend out to the left and right of the picture.
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/18669.jpg)
Above is the first production engine. Lynx will be powered by four of these propulsion units.
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/18670.png)
And a cool sign on the shop floor.
The only things I wasn't able to take pictures of are the three metal wind tunnel models that XCOR will use to make small modifications to the design. These are small models that you can hold in their hands, but they are key to a very sophisticated space plane/.
Цитироватьhttp://www.avia.ru/news/?id=1290519153Цитировать...
Самолет также может нести надфюзеляжный контейнер весом до 280 кг, который может сбрасываться на большой высоте и пролетать до 700 км с 11-ю минутами микрогравитации.
Там с него ещё и ракеты в космос пускать планируют.
Вот скриншот с ютубовского видео:
(http://ib1.keep4u.ru/b/2011/06/28/b2/b24f1d4c0796fb08fcce4ce12d8aef4a.png) (http://keep4u.ru)
Судя по облику ПН, она явно намерена выйти на орбиту. :D
При стартовой массе до 280 кг...
Пикоракету для пикоспутников мы вроде ещё не обсуждали. ;)
ЦитироватьСудя по облику ПН, она явно намерена выйти на орбиту. :D
При стартовой массе до 280 кг...
Пикоракету для пикоспутников мы вроде ещё не обсуждали. ;)
Я видел все это, но уверен, что ничего этого не будет, по той же причине, что и большинство АКС прожектов вроде Вирджиновского, Ишима, и пр. А знаете, что будет? Линкс будет летать из Кореи и фотографировать Пхеньян, неожиданно. А то ишь привыкли раскатывать марлю когда спутник пролетает.
Какую марлю, какой спутник? Вы о чем вообще?
Суборбитальный самолет получил первый научный заказ[/size] (http://www.ru-tech.ru/pub/kosmos/suborbital_nyjj_samolet_poluchil_pervyjj_nauchnyjj.html)
Возможно, что первым рейсом суборбитального самолета с научной точки зрения, будет доставка в космос телескопа ATSA.
Институтом планетарных исследований НАСА был подписан меморандум с компанией XCOR Aerospace, в рамках которого была заложена основа того, как суборбитальная обсерватория ATSA будет работать на борту летательного аппарата XCOR Lynx.
Проект ATSA поможет использовать возможности многоразового суборбитального самолета для того, чтобы выполнить недорогие космические наблюдения при помощи специально разработанного для этих целей телескопа. Суборбитальный телескоп выгоден тем, что имеет возможность выхода за пределы атмосферы, и при всем при этом отсутствуют некоторые эксплуатационные ограничения космических телескопов-спутников.
Само слово "atsa" переводится с языка индейцев-навахо как "орел". Новый телескоп был разработан, чтобы вести наблюдение за объектами, находящимися вблизи Солнца, которые практически невозможно изучить при помощи телескопов, расположенных на Земле и орбитальных обсерваторий, подобных Hubble. Как правило, для наблюдения за такими объектами применяются суборбитальные ракеты. Тем не менее, летательный аппарат Lynx может представлять собой менее дорогую и, что важно, более качественную альтернативу, что позволяет выбрать различные траектории полета и выполнить наблюдения, которые были запланированы ранее.
Суборбитальный самолет Lynx уже разрабатывается и скоро будет готов к первому, и надеемся, не последнему полету, который запланировано произвести в 2012 году. В феврале компания XCOR сделала заявление о том, что готова принять заявки на вывод полезной нагрузки.
ЦитироватьСудя по облику ПН, она явно намерена выйти на орбиту. :D
При стартовой массе до 280 кг...
Пикоракету для пикоспутников мы вроде ещё не обсуждали. ;)
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/81067.jpg) (http://www.xcor.com/images/vehicles/lynx/PUG-overview_MK-II_v02-bigtext.jpg) 650 kg
Хм, действительно...
Как это я проморгал, видел же эту картинку. :oops:
Не стоило с ходу верить www.avia.ru .
Цитироватьhttp://www.avia.ru/news/?id=1290519153
Цитировать...
Самолет также может нести надфюзеляжный контейнер весом до 280 кг, который может сбрасываться на большой высоте и пролетать до 700 км с 11-ю минутами микрогравитации.
Но всё равно любопытно, что можно вынести на орбиту такой "крохой"? ) Она сама себя едва-едва дотянет.
Придётся, видимо, интегрировать борт КА и аппаратуру СУ РН в единый блок, и на него уже и вешать приборы, иначе смысла нет. Если проживёт хотя бы месяц, и то хлеб.
Из свежего The Lurio Report:
XCOR Aerospace will shortly make the first US announcement of major steps forward under last year's "full wet-lease" agreement with Space Expedition Cura
Лурио сообщает...
The X-Racer was flown seven times in one day, with a minimum turnaround time of nine minutes. The Lynx is to fly only four times a day, which as Nelson indicates is, "based on a fairly straightforward 2 hour turn around process by a small ground crew, and some limits on how many staff we wish to have on the clock on any given day ...[that] projection is based on our experience gained in flying EZ-Rocket and X-Racer and our estimates of time between flights...
В этом году, вероятно, полетят. Основные проблемы были деньги, сейчас они есть.
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/22577.jpg)
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/22577.jpg)
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/22578.jpg)
http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/xcor-reveals-lynx-test-schedule-366803/
Так получили они этот летный фюзеляж или нет?! Обещали неделю назад получить. Где фюзеляж? Гре фотографии?
http://www.satnews.com/cgi-bin/story.cgi?number=1280735594
February 27, 2012
XCOR Aerospace... Financially Speaking + New Integrators...
XCOR Aerospace recently closed a $5 million round of equity funding.
The round, combined with cash on hand plus anticipated and existing contracts, should fund the company through production of its Lynx Mark I Suborbital vehicle. The financing included participation of new and previous investors. Among them are Esther Dyson, Pete Ricketts (co-owner of the Chicago Cubs) and several top Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and former venture capitalists.
"We have announced this important news at the Next Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference here in Silicon Valley because we believe the future of commercial space access will be driven by enterprise customers like the attendees here today," said Andrew Nelson, XCOR's Chief Operating Officer. He added, "This investment represents a vote of trust and confidence in the markets represented by NSRC participants." Jeff Greason, Founder and CEO of XCOR, said, "I believe we were able to raise funds in these trying economic times because XCOR has demonstrated compelling value to investors and customers. Our $60-plus Million backlog of orders for Lynx suborbital vehicles, flights on Lynx, and our unique reusable non-toxic rocket engines gives the investor community reason to take notice."
As part of this financing, XCOR is also happy to announce a reformulated Board of Directors. The directors include newcomer Esther Dyson, former venture capitalist Stephen Fleming, Chairman of the Space Studies Institute Dr. Lee Valentine, and company founders Jeff Greason and Dan DeLong. Ms Dyson is well known for her perceptive early investments in the Internet, software and social media industries, her service on private and public corporate boards and foundations, and for leading NASA's Technology and Innovation Advisory Council. Mr. Fleming is a former general partner at the venture capital firm of ATV Partners and is now Vice President at Georgia Tech where he leads the Enterprise Innovation Institute. Dr. Valentine is well known in the commercial space community for his leadership of the Space Studies Institute and his work with many early stage startup companies.
Work proceeds on the Lynx suborbital vehicle at XCOR. With the recent receipt of the Lynx Mark I fuselage, the continued testing of the liquid oxygen and kerosene propulsion system, the fielding of the non-toxic high performance bi-propellant reaction control system, and the recent release of request for quotes for the cockpit pressure vessel and wing strakes, XCOR is getting ever closer to first flight.
Additionally, at the Next Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference (NSRC) 2012 in Palo Alto, California, XCOR Aerospace announced that EMXYS of Spain, Texas A&M's Space Engineering Research Center, and the Planetary Science Institute have joined XCOR's payload processing sales channel for the Lynx suborbital vehicle. The new members of the XCOR team will provide services to the research, scientific, educational, engineering, and medical markets that are using the XCOR Lynx suborbital reusable launch vehicle for experiments and investigations. They join XCOR's existing payload integration channel partners including: the Southwest Research Institute of San Antonio and Boulder, NanoRacks of Washington DC, Spaceflight Services of Tukwila, Washington, Space Expedition Curacao, Yecheon Astro Space Center of South Korea, Cosmica of France, and African Space Institute in South Africa.
The payload integrators will sell Lynx research flight services and assist in creating standardization in research hardware for the suborbital market. Each payload integration specialist firm will help facilitate and provision flight services on the Lynx by ensuring that end users understand the packaging, environmental, safety, operational flight profile(s) and interface (physical, electrical and data) requirements of the Lynx for both automated experiments not requiring user intervention during flight, and those experiments when the scientist accompanies the payload to the edge of space. The integrators will provide a variety of additional value added services depending on their individual service offering and customer needs, including, but not limited to fabrication, test and qualification of experiments for the Lynx environment.
XCOR will be responsible for: (1) developing and periodically updating the Lynx interface control document, payload user's guide and other payload related processes and procedures in consultation with the payload integration specialists, end customers and regulators; (2) operating an annual Lynx payload user's group conference to solicit feedback and promulgate best practices across the payload integrators network and user community; (3) addressing any specific non-standard needs identified by payload integration specialists and their customers such as special flight trajectories or unique vehicle integration needs; (4) any special licensing or regulatory actions pertaining to the flight; and (5) with the integration specialist and customer, performing a final safety and pre-flight review meeting before the mission is flown and a de-briefing of the mission after flight.
http://www.satnews.com/cgi-bin/story.cgi?number=690971628
March 03, 2012
Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) + XCOR Aerospace... Signing On For Test Flights
Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has reached an agreement with XCOR Aerospace, Inc. to conduct pioneering....
....suborbital space missions with Institute payload specialist astronauts flying aboard one or two test missions in the XCOR Aerospace Lynx Mark I vehicle. The flights will test capabilities of the Lynx vehicle with actual researchers and research experiments aboard. In 2011, SwRI and XCOR Aerospace inked a deal for six SwRI suborbital flights aboard Lynx, with options for three more. This announcement moves the first such flights ahead of XCOR's commercial services to be a part of XCOR's Lynx test flight program.
"We are very excited to advance the capability to do suborbital research with Lynx by becoming a part of the planned test flight program for this innovative and highly capable new human spaceflight vehicle," says Dr. Alan Stern, SwRI Space Science and Engineering Division's Associate Vice President, who leads the project.
Andrew Nelson, XCOR's chief operating officer, adds that "XCOR is as serious about our research missions as other parts of our Lynx flight manifest, and this effort will help us validate flight procedures using trained test engineers not involved in early operations, much as we did with our X-Racer rocket-powered aircraft program. We're proud to announce our intention to team with SwRI in adding these research test missions to our comprehensive flight test program."
Stern and project co-investigators Dr. Daniel Durda and Dr. Cathy Olkin have been training for suborbital spaceflight aboard zero-G aircraft, centrifuges and F-104 jet fighters since 2010. All three researchers are expected to fly and operate suborbital experiments during the six-mission flight sequence under the SwRI and XCOR contract.
"By putting scientists in space with their experiments, researchers can achieve better results at lower cost, and with a higher probability of success, than with many old-style automated experiments," Stern added. "The effort we're announcing today with XCOR will put SwRI researchers at the leading edge of this revolutionary new kind of suborbital research."
http://www.aviationweek.com/Article.aspx?id=/article-xml/AW_05_14_2012_p26-456595.xml&p=1
ЦитироватьXCOR Lynx Mark I Taking Shape In Mojave[/size]
By Guy Norris
Source: Aviation Week & Space Technology
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May 14 , 2012
Guy Norris/Los Angeles
Four years after the rocket-powered Lynx project was unveiled at the Los Angeles Convention Center, the presence here of a full-scale vehicle mockup at the Spacecraft Technology Expo reveals two fundamental truths about the "new space" market.
Firstly, propelling a privately developed spacecraft to suborbit is extremely difficult. When it first announced the project in March 2008, XCOR Aerospace hoped to be flying within two years, yet is only now assembling the first Mark I vehicle at its Mojave, Calif., facility. The company's long journey to suborbit is partly reflected in the many detailed design differences between the mockup and the artist's concept of 2008.
Secondly, the project shows staying power while underscoring XCOR's determination and the resilience of the market. Despite the challenges and the sluggish economy, the company continues to find support and raise funds. XCOR holds more than $60 million in backlog orders and recently closed a $5 million round of equity funding from new and previous investors, including Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and well-known technology "angel" investors such as Esther Dyson.
XCOR CEO Jeff Greason also continues to exude confidence in the project and the market as a whole. "It took a while, but we think we're there," he says, describing the path to Lynx. "We've been through two generations of rocket-powered vehicles so far. Firstly, there was the EZ-Rocket between 2001 and 2005, which was aimed at pushing down the cost of rocket-powered operations. Then there was the X-Racer, between 2006 and 2008, which was all about operational tempo. We got it down to around nine minutes between flights and up to seven flights per day."
Now, with the prospect of long-awaited suborbital flights looming in 2013, Greason says the influence of pioneering operations such as the Lynx will be greater than the sum of its parts. "People talk about the tradeoff between robotic operations and humans—but I don't think a robot has been invented that can enjoy the spaceflight for me, or can do experiments and say, 'Mmmm . . . that looks funny to me.' So it's a game-changer in a way that will impact other uses of human spaceflight."
Assembly of the initial vehicle is underway, with the truss structure that will support the propulsion system currently being attached to the fuselage. The structure will provide a housing for the vehicle's four XR-5K18 liquid oxygen/kerosene (LOX/RP) rocket engines. Initial tests of the LOX piston pump are about to start, paving the way for closed-loop testing of the engine using its own pump-fed fuel, rather than pressure-fed from offboard sources. XCOR has also received the LOX tank and is issuing requests for bids for the aerodynamic strakes, or fairings, which will enclose the fuel tanks between the fuselage and the wing.
The mockup at the show indicated the changes made to improve the stability and control of the final configuration, including the broader nose section and extended chine. Other changes—which were made after subsonic wind-tunnel trials in 2009 at the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio, and follow-on tests at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center—included larger-chord wingtip-mounted vertical fins with extended ventral sections. A final set of wind-tunnel campaigns in both facilities is scheduled shortly to confirm minor aerodynamic changes.
A mockup of the two-person cockpit was also displayed alongside the vehicle. The layout is dominated by two multi-function displays, numerous standby instruments and a camera view of the rocket plume. XCOR says visual checks of the plume from a tail-mounted camera will provide the pilot with instant verification of the stability of the rockets, and will warn of issues before anything is picked up on instruments. The company says avionics provided by L-3 Communications, CMC/Esterline, Aspen, MGL, Avidyne and Garmin "are all being considered," and a final decision on the suite of avionics suppliers will be made over the summer.
XCOR aims to start powered taxi tests later this year with high-speed runs by December, and first flight in 2013. [/size]
http://www.parabolicarc.com/2012/05/10/cool-images-from-the-spacecraft-technology-expo/
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Lynx Mark I, возможно, полетит в космос в 2013 годуЦитироватьНа майской выставке Spacecraft Technology Expo был представлен очередной макет космосамолёта Lynx Mark I разработки XCOR Aerospace. Вместе с его появлением компания сделала ряд заявлений, касающихся ближайшего будущего разработки и своих планов по налаживанию космического туризма.
О начале проекта Lynx американская компания XCOR Aerospace заявила четыре года назад. Оптимизма — и это ещё мягко говоря — её руководству было не занимать. CEO Джефф Гризон тогда зачем-то сказал, что первый полёт может состояться через два года. Да, эскизы Lynx были готовы уже в 2008 году, но дистанция от них до космоплана, готового к старту, чуть-чуть больше, не так ли?
На Spacecraft Technology Expo г-н Гризон выступил со списком модификаций, предпринятых его командой по мере продвижения проекта. Бумага внушительная, и это скорее хорошо. Баки с жидким кислородом, расположенные между фюзеляжем и крылом, решено закрыть обтекателями, носовой обтекатель был значительно уширен, центропланные части крыла сделаны более выступающими... Словом, орбитальный самолёт ещё больше приблизился к интегральной аэродинамической схеме.
По итогам продувок в аэродинамической трубе Исследовательской лаборатории ВВС США в Дейтоне, принято решение о значительном развитии законцовок крыла, придающих новому Lynx его столь необычный вид. В то же время большинство основных параметров оставлено без изменений. Lynx Mark I — это по-прежнему орбитальный самолёт с углепластиковым корпусом, высоким аэродинамическим качеством, четырьмя ракетными двигателями на жидком кислороде / керосине. Алюминиевые сопла (концепция несколько необычная для многоразового корабля, предназначенного для полётов космос), по словам Джеффа Гризона, подтвердили свою живучесть во время стендовых испытаний двигателей XR-5K18 (с поршневыми насосами).
Основным предназначением Lynx Mark I, по г-ну Гризону, будет туризм: что-то вроде аттракционов в ЦПКиО, но для больших, а главное, обеспеченных мальчиков. Взлетая горизонтально с обычного аэродрома, машина будет набирать высоту до 42 км, поддерживая умеренную скорость в M2. Затем двигатели отключатся, но Lynx Mark I по инерции «подскочит» ещё на 19 км. На самом пике доступного кораблю диапазона высот он испытает примерно четырёхминутную невесомость, после чего вновь войдёт в атмосферу и, планируя, сядет на аэродром. Весь полёт, предположительно, займёт не более получаса. При этом ракетоплан задуман буквально для конвейерной работы: четыре полёта в день, после каждых 40 вылетов (10 дней полётов) — ТО.
Преимуществ — с точки зрения космического туризма — у аппарата много. Главное — он не очень быстр, причём как на подъёме, так и на спуске, что позволяет сделать теплозащитную оболочку надёжной (ибо тепловое воздействие мало), но при этом не одноразовой, как у SpaceX Dragon.
Учитывая, что стоимость двухместного орбитального самолёта, по обещаниям компании, не превысит $10 млн, с четырьмя полётами в день аппарат быстро окупится. После чего будут созданы более амбициозные Lynx Mark II и III, с высотой орбитального полёта в 100 км и более и с платной нагрузкой до 650 кг.
Сейчас постройка головного Lynx Mark I идёт полным ходом. Первые испытания на сверхзвуковых скоростях в атмосфере намечены на нынешний декабрь, а первый космический полёт — на 2013 год.
http://science.compulenta.ru/679270/
http://www.aviationweek.com/Article.aspx?id=/article-xml/AW_05_14_2012_p26-456595.xml
Марк 1 до космоса не долетает, если считать космосом высоту в 100 км. Вроде бы только Марк 2 должен эту высоту брать...
28.05.2012 / 00:05 Не дождался своего "звездного часа"Цитировать26 мая в Мельбурне (Австралия) в возрасте 84 лет скончался бизнесмен Найджел Пек (Nigel Peck), намеревавшийся стать первым австралийским космическим туристом. Несколько лет назад за 100 тысяч долларов он купил билет на ракетоплан LYNX компании XCOR. Полет намечался на январь 2014 года.
Пек побывал на северном и южном полюсах Земли и мечтал увидеть лик нашей планеты с космической высоты. Но, увы, мечта его теперь не осуществится никогда.
- К.И.
Цитировать28.05.2012 / 00:05 Не дождался своего "звездного часа"
Цитировать26 мая в Мельбурне (Австралия) в возрасте 84 лет скончался бизнесмен Найджел Пек (Nigel Peck), намеревавшийся стать первым австралийским космическим туристом. Несколько лет назад за 100 тысяч долларов он купил билет на ракетоплан LYNX компании XCOR. Полет намечался на январь 2014 года.
Пек побывал на северном и южном полюсах Земли и мечтал увидеть лик нашей планеты с космической высоты. Но, увы, мечта его теперь не осуществится никогда.
- К.И.
Жаль его.... :cry:
XCOR Aerospace Establishes New Commercial Spaceflight R&D Center HeadquartersЦитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/66429.jpg)
On July 9, the Midland Development Corporation (MDC) and XCOR Aerospace jointly announced the establishment of XCOR's new Commercial Space Research and Development Center Headquarters. The private rocket engine and spaceflight development company's new R&D center, which will be located on the flight line at Midland International Airport (MAF) in Texas, will be created over the next eighteen months in a newly renovated 60,000-square-foot hangar, with the work expected to be complete sometime in the fall of 2013.
XCOR is the designer, manufacturer, and operator of the Lynx – a high performance, winged, fully reusable suborbital space transport vehicle. Lynx is designed to safely fly two people (pilot and passenger) and payloads (such a scientific experiments) on half-hour flights to the edge of space, and back, several times per day. To date, 175 tickets on XCOR's Lynx have been pre-sold for future flights, at a price of $95,000.00 each.
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"We are pleased to be establishing our R&D Center in Midland, Texas, where the weather, surrounding landscape, the airport, and the local & state government environment are ideally situated for the future growth and the ultimate realization of a fully reusable orbital system," said Andrew Nelson, chief operating officer of XCOR Aerospace. "With future suborbital operational sites on the East and West Coasts of the United States and around the world, plus a manufacturing and test facility geographically separate from our R&D facility, Midland will truly be at the heart of XCOR's innovation engine."
"The decision to establish XCOR's Research and Development Center Headquarters in Midland came after intense competition from other locations," stated Pam Welch, executive director of MDC. "Once the technical and operational needs of XCOR were met, the final factors influencing the decision to locate R&D to Midland included the friendly business climate, a predictable regulatory environment, and the State of Texas tort reform initiatives. These factors allowed XCOR to see a long term future happening in Midland."
In addition to XCOR's facility renovation, the City of Midland is applying for a Commercial Space Launch Site designation for MAF through the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The licensing process is expected to take 12-18 months to complete.
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"When our application is approved, the MAF will be the first "Primary Commercial Service Airport" to be granted this designation, and the combination of the two makes Midland attractive to other commercial space companies," said Marv Esterly, who is director of airports at MAF. ""This new R&D facility has the potential to open the door to even more economic development at our airport and for our community."
"Visionary companies, like XCOR, continue to choose Texas because they know that innovation is fueled by freedom," said Texas Governor Rick Perry. "Whether on the cutting edge of biotech, communications, commerce or privatized efforts to serve the needs of the next generation of space explorers, you can find Texas at the forefront of the movement."
To learn more about XCOR Aerospace and their Lynx sub-orbital space transport vehicle, please visit their website at www.Xcor.com
http://www.americaspace.org/?p=22621
XCOR To Build, Fly Suborbital Ships in Florida ЦитироватьCAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Lured by more than $5.7 million in state and local economic incentives and a skilled work force looking for jobs following the retirement of the space shuttles, XCOR Aerospace plans to manufacture and fly Lynx suborbital vehicles from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) here.
The Aug. 23 announcement at KSC's Visitor Complex is the second expansion plan unveiled by XCOR in as many months. The privately held firm, currently based in Mojave, Calif., will relocate its headquarters and set up a research and development center in Midland, Texas, leaving only an operations center, and possibly some flight test activities, in Mojave.
Asked if XCOR was wooed away from California, company founder and chief executive Jeff Greason told Space News, "In short, yes."
"I love Mojave, and it's a fabulous place to do R&D and I expect it will be a fabulous place to operate, but ultimately we are running a business and where we decide to put different aspects of the business in the long term has to be based on where we find the best business conditions. It's a complicated weighing of all the factors involved but ultimately we decided it that it was time to move the R&D operation of the company somewhere and Midland is the place that we chose.
"For many, many years it has been our plan to establish the routine manufacturing operations, serial production of both vehicles and engines, at a site that was not the same site as where our R&D site was. For a number of reasons, Florida looked like a very good candidate for that," Greason said.
XCOR and NASA are working through Space Florida, a state-backed economic development agency, to iron out an agreement that would allow XCOR to build a manufacturing facility and fly from Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF).
"Up until now, Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral have been known for launching rockets that carry satellites and NASA people. We want the Space Coast to be known as the place where any person who wants to launch in America comes here," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden told reporters during a tour of launch facilities and spacecraft processing hangars after XCOR's announcement.
XCOR would be the second commercial tenant at the shuttle's idled runway, joining Starfighters Inc., which provides high-altitude training and equipment test flights aboard privately owned Lockheed F-104 supersonic jets. Starfighters is based at the SLF's Reusable Launch Vehicle Hanger, originally built for NASA's X-33 and X-34 experimental spaceplane programs and now operated by Space Florida.
NASA earlier this month issued a request for proposals from companies wanting to make use of the 4,500-meter runway, part of the spaceport's ongoing transformation from a shuttle operations base to a mixed-use facility supporting government, commercial and military space and aviation programs.
"We're trying to work with the state of Florida and the various economic development councils to bring business back to the Space Coast. My hope is that we'll make it even more robust than it was before," Bolden said.
XCOR, like Virgin Galactic and a handful of other firms, intends to fly tourists, researchers and payloads into suborbital space, reaching altitudes of about 100 kilometers before returning through the atmosphere.
Both companies also aspire to fly orbital spacecraft as well, another factor in favor of Florida, which is well-positioned for orbital launches, Greason said.
XCOR expects to begin test flights of its two-seat Lynx Mark 1 prototype by early 2013 in Mojave and to fly in Florida a year later.
"We will be permanently basing our Lynx Mark 2 production vehicle in Florida," XCOR chief operating officer Andrew Nelson told Space News.
The company also plans to set up a second operations base at the newly created spaceport at Cecil Field in Jacksonville, Fla. By the end of 2018, XCOR expects to employ about 150 Lynx technicians and engineers in Florida. It already has reservations for about 200 flights, which cost $95,000 apiece.
Virgin Galactic, which has begun testing its six-passenger, two-pilot SpaceShipTwo suborbital vehicle, is charging $200,000 per seat and has more than 535 reservations.
XCOR intends to partner with companies and space agencies interested in providing suborbital spaceflights, providing "wet lease" agreements for vehicles, pilots and technical services.
"It's always been our business plan that there be many different operating sites," Greason said.
http://www.spacenews.com/civil/120824-xcor-suborbital-ships-fla.html
Planetfest 2012 Пасадена август 2012
http://communicatescience.com/zoonomian/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/IMG_7017_lynx.jpg
:D
На канадском туристическом рынке появилось новое направление - полет на орбиту ЗемлиОТТАВА, 2 февраля. /Корр. ИТАР-ТАСС Александр Пахомов/. На канадском туристическом рынке появилось новое перспективное направление - полет на орбиту Земли. Продавать такие туры в Стране кленового листа калифорнийская компания "Икс-кор аэроспейс" и её голландский партнер "Спейс экспедишн" доверили квебекской фирме "Юниктур". Соответствующее соглашение было подписано в пятницу.
Космических туристов будет доставлять на орбиту разработанный "Икс-кор аэроспейс" двухместный ракетоплан "Линкс-Марк", который проходит сейчас полетные испытания. Аппарат оснащен четырьмя ракетными двигателями, имеет в длину 8,5 метра и размах крыльев 7,3 метра. Взлетает и совершает посадку как обычный самолет, только ему нужна для этого полоса не короче 2,4 км.
Желающим посмотреть, как выглядит наша планета из космоса, предлагаются два пакета. Первый - суборбитальный полет на высоту примерно 60 км, который займет 45 минут. Туристу предстоит испытать состояние невесомости в течение 3 - 4 минут и четырехкратную перегрузку при спуске. За это надо заплатить 95 тыс долларов. Первые старты запланированы на третий квартал текущего года.
Второй - 60-минутный полет на высоту уже свыше 100 км, где начинается космос. Состояние невесомости продлится уже 5 - 6 минут. Обойдется это на 5 тыс долларов дороже. И придется подождать до 2014 года.
Взлет и посадка будут производиться с космопортов в пустыне Мохаве /штат Калифорния/ примерно в 100 км от Лос- Анджелеса и на карибском острове Кюрасао в 80 км от побережья Венесуэлы. Согласно нынешним планам, ракетоплан ежедневно станет совершать примерно 4 полета.
Как сообщил журналистам президент "Юниктур" Филип Бержерон, он забронировал себе место на ракетоплан на декабрь. "Я - 15-й в общем списке, в который включены желающие испытать новые ощущения со всего мира, - сказал он. - И я стану первым канадцем, который поднимется на орбиту на "Линксе".
"Юниктур" уже нашел первого покупателя орбитального тура - им стал исполнительный директор расположенного в Монреале космического музея "Космодом" Сильвэн Белэр.
http://www.itar-tass.com/c19/638264.html
http://www.xcor.com/news/founders-stepping-back-marks-new-phase-in-xcor-lynx-development/
ЦитироватьFOUNDERS STEPPING BACK MARKS NEW PHASE IN XCOR LYNX DEVELOPMENT
Mojave CA, November 23, XCOR Aerospace announced earlier today that two of its original founders, Chief Technology Officer Jeff Greason and Chief Engineer Dan DeLong, are stepping back fr om their current positions. With the first Lynx closer to completion, both want to turn their attention to pursue other interests.
The two stood at the cradle of the Lynx reusable launch vehicle and have been working painstakingly on the revolutionary spacecraft for the last years. Greason will maintain his position on the company's Board of Directors. CEO Jay Gibson: 'Both Jeff and Dan are true pioneers in our business. It's their vision and their perseverance that helped us getting to where we stand now. We owe both men a lot of gratitude for all the time, energy and groundbreaking ideas they have been contributing to our company and the industry and of course we look forward to possibly working together in the future. Lynx is now in the good hands of XCOR's highly capable and talented Technical, Engineering and program teams.
2016 Will be an exciting year in which we're about to reach some truly significant milestones. Lynx will be the world's first Instantly Reusable Launch Vehicle (I- RLV) and over 350 clients are as eager as we are to undertake the first trip into space. Next to that we will keep investing in our own facilities in both Mojave and Midland, wh ere Lynx's orbital successor will be one of the strategic focus points.'
Eva van Pelt
Media Relations
Корабль для космических туристов испытают в 2016 годуhttp://www.interfax.ru/world/483826
ЦитироватьМосква. 8 декабря. INTERFAX.RU - Американская компания XCOR намерена в 2016 году провести испытания нового космического корабля Lynx, который в перспективе будет использоваться для перевозки космических туристов передает сайт N+1 со ссылкой на Aviation Week.
Конкретная дата пока не определена, но летные испытания Lynx планируется начать во втором квартале будущего года.
Проверки корабля будут проводиться на специально подготовленной взлетно-посадочной полосе в пустыне Мохаве. Летные испытания пройдет первая из трех версий космического корабля - Lynx Mk.1. Во время испытательных полетов аппарат постепенно будут выводить на высоту до 60,9 тыс. м. После завершения испытаний Lynx Mk.1 будут использовать для подготовки пилотов.
Позднее XCOR проведет испытания второй версии туристического космического корабля Lynx Mk.2, построить который планируется в сотрудничестве с компанией Space Florida в Космическом центре Кеннеди. Этот аппарат сможет подниматься на высоту почти ста тысяч метров. При этом конструкция корабля будет рассчитана на четыре челночных полета в сутки.
Lynx Mk.1 и Mk.2 будут оснащены ракетными двигателями XR-5K18 с насосной подачей топлива и окислителя. В качестве топлива будет использоваться керосин, а в качестве окислителя - жидкий кислород. Вторая версия корабля получит легкий корпус, а также уменьшенного объема бак для жидкого кислорода.
XCOR также планирует построить третью версию космического корабля - Lynx Mk.3. Помимо перевозки туристов она сможет и выводить на орбиту микроспутники. Крепление микроспутников будет осуществляться к специальной штанге в носовой части планера. Предполагается, что все три версии космического корабля будут взлетать и садиться на аэродром на Земле.
Цитировать (https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/29262.jpg) Jeff Foust @jeff_foust (https://twitter.com/jeff_foust) 11 ч.11 часов назад (https://twitter.com/jeff_foust/status/694605969360359426)
Jan Willem Storm: XCOR Lynx suborbital flights from Curaçao could start as soon as 2017.
Ну вот :( Лурио говорит, новое руководство XCOR решило сосредоточиться на сотрудничестве с ULA по двигателям, а делать крылья к Линксу "денег нет"... RIP?
Очень жаль :( . Из компании ушли почти все работавшие над Линксом... единственное, что радует - основатели компании основали следующую.
ЦитироватьXCOR @XCOR (https://twitter.com/XCOR) 33m33 minutes ago (https://twitter.com/XCOR/status/804344064997019649)
Back to the design board!!
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/159224.jpg)
на курьих ножках :D
http://spacenews.com/xcor-aerospace-files-for-bankruptcy/
ЦитироватьXCOR Aerospace files for bankruptcy
by Jeff Foust (http://spacenews.com/author/jeff-foust/) — November 9, 2017
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/155562.jpg)
XCOR Aerospace had been working for nearly a decade on the Lynx suborbital spaceplane, but technical and financial issues kept it from completing a prototype. Credit: XCOR Aerospace
WASHINGTON — XCOR Aerospace, a company that for nearly 20 years had been working on rocket engines and a suborbital spaceplane, filed for bankruptcy Nov. 8 after it was unable to line up new investors.
The company filed paperwork with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of California, seeking bankruptcy under Chapter 7, which calls for liquidation of the company's assets. XCOR is headquartered in Midland, Texas, with facilities in Mojave, California. The filing was first reported by Parabolic Arc.
The company had, in recent weeks, been trying to line up investors or other partners that could keep the company alive. Michael Blum, a member of the board of directors of XCOR who took over as chief executive at the end of June, said in an Oct. 19 interview (http://spacenews.com/xcor-running-out-of-time-to-find-investor/) that the company had only a few weeks to reach an agreement or it would run out of money.
"By early November, either one of these deals pulls the trigger and saves XCOR, or we file for Chapter 7," he said at the time.
Blum, in a Nov. 9 email to investors and shareholders in the company obtained by SpaceNews, said time ran out on the company's efforts. "Today it is my sad duty to inform you that XCOR has failed," he wrote. "Our effort to find a financial future for XCOR has not succeeded."
Blum said the company had discussions with several potential partners, including one that involved joining a consortium led by a "large aerospace firm" working to develop space access systems in the United Kingdom. Another suitor, discussions with whom started just a couple weeks ago, was interested in XCOR's capabilities but lacked the financial resources needed for a deal.
Blum said that the company's senior secured creditor, not identified in the message, "became difficult to work with, necessitating a bankruptcy filing."
According to its bankruptcy filing, XCOR has more than 100 creditors, although none are identified as the senior secured creditor who reportedly triggered the filing. The creditors listed in the filing include a mix of individuals, companies and government organizations.
XCOR, in its filing, listed estimated assets of between $1 and 10 million, with estimated liabilities of between $10 and 50 million.
XCOR was founded by four former employees of Rotary Rocket Company in 1999 after that company, which was developing a reusable launch vehicle called Roton, changed propulsion systems. XCOR developed a number of engines, including versions flown on a modified Long-EZ airplane called EZ-Rocket.
XCOR is best known in the industry for Lynx, a suborbital spaceplane announced in 2008 designed to carry one pilot and one spaceflight participant. The vehicle was designed to take off from a runway under rocket power and fly a suborbital arc, gliding back to a runway landing.
The company, though, was never able to complete the initial prototype of Lynx. In 2016, the company announced it was laying off approximately half of its employees (http://spacenews.com/xcor-lays-off-employees-to-focus-on-engine-development/) and shelving work on Lynx to focus on an engine project under a contract with United Launch Alliance.
At the end of June, the company said it was laying off the rest of its employees due to "adverse financial conditions," (http://spacenews.com/xcor-aerospace-lays-off-remaining-employees/) hiring a few back as contractors. Jay Gibson, the former chief executive of XCOR who left in June when nominated to a Defense Department position, told senators at his July confirmation hearing that a sudden termination of a contract from a larger, but unnamed, company led to those layoffs.
XCOR is not the first suborbital spaceflight company to go out of business. In 2013, John Carmack, the videogame developer who founded Armadillo Aerospace more than a decade earlier, announced the company was in "hibernation mode" (http://spacenews.com/36590armadillo-aerospace-suspends-vehicle-development-work/) after he ran out of money to fund its operations. Armadillo later ceased operations entirely, although many of its former employees now work for Exos Aerospace, another company working on suborbital vehicles.
Blum, in his note, thanked investors and shareholders who "supported XCOR financially and in so many other ways." He also sounded optimistic about the future of the industry in general despite the failure of XCOR itself.
"The advent of entrepreneurial endeavors has led to significant cost reductions in recent years," he wrote. "This trend will continue and with it low cost access to space for humans will arrive. I am certain of this."
http://space-access.org/updates/sau148.html
Space Access Update #148 11/9/17 copyright 2017 by Space Access Society
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Since announcing my retirement fr om organizing Space Access conferences last winter, I've given serious thought to walking away fr om this field altogether. At least compared to most of the last thirty years, things are in fairly hopeful shape.
However, the field's ever mounting total of bad policy, wasteful foolishness, and occasional outright knavery begging to be written about has recently been convincing me otherwise. (There are also a lot of good things happening, too often completely overlooked.) The only remaining question was, where to start?
The question then unfortunately answered itself this morning. It's a relatively small matter, but ties directly into some of the larger issues of the moment. It's also something quite personally important to me, fr om a number of different angles.
What follows is an expanded and lightly rewritten version of my initial comment at Parabolic Arc this morning to the news of XCOR Aerospace's bankruptcy filing.
Henry Vanderbilt Executive Director, Space Access Society (Chief of Staff, XCOR Aerospace, 2006-2009)
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Contents This Issue:
- XCOR Intellectual Property Opportunity - For Someone
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XCOR Bankrupt, IP On The Block
Today's news: Parabolic Arc: (http://www.parabolicarc.com/2017/11/09/xcor-files-chapter-7-bankruptcy/#more-63048)XCOR Files for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy (http://www.parabolicarc.com/2017/11/09/xcor-files-chapter-7-bankruptcy/#more-63048)
(For a quick chronology of public info on the company's downfall, scan down the headlines listed at Space News for search "XCOR" (http://spacenews.com/?s=xcor).)
OK. I've been keeping my mouth mostly shut while this all played out. But in order to head off the most common public misconceptions I've seen in previous discussions of this:
The company's technology was not the problem. Quite the opposite.
- The (patented) rocket engine configuration has a remarkable combination of high reusability with inherent extremely high combustion efficiency and combustion stability. (Usually, it's pick one: Trade away efficiency to get enough stability.) Also, (patented) cheap efficient piston pumps at a small-to-medium size wh ere turbines don't scale well. Also, the package applies really well to hydrogen and thus high-energy upper stages.
- Regarding Lynx, meanwhile, a quick refresher: The basic mission is, fly from a normal runway to Mach 3/300,000 feet with a payload, then either send the payload on its way or return it intact to the runway - multiple times per day, at costs comparable to (other) high performance aircraft.
The key thing about Lynx is, the aerodynamics close. IE, from takeoff through Mach 3 climb through vacuum coast, reentry, high-performance glide, and landing, the configuration has been thoroughly wind-tunneled and is flyable and controllable throughout.
And the company's expertise at flying winged rockets at ridiculously high op rates and low op costs was very real, and is thoroughly embedded in the design.
And the fly-from-an-airport operational concept scales up very nicely to medium-airliner size, with ability to put tens of thousands of pounds of payload out of the atmosphere, then either bring it back again to a soft landing, or send it on its way downrange or (with sufficient propulsion) on to orbit. The minimal size (two seats) of the initial Lynx was a development cost choice, not a technical constraint.
Yeah, I was never that impressed with the (announced target) suborbital tourism market either. But there were other, considerably larger markets for larger, more capable versions. (Not least the various obvious theater defense applications.) But enough on all that for the moment.
The problem was management.
There is a tech-startup phenomenon that's happened often enough before that there's a name for it: Founder's Syndrome, wh ere as a company grows the tech visionaries who began it are too slow to recognize that they're not as good managers as they are techies and that they're running beyond their management limitations. Some companies survive it. Some don't.
My opinion: This whole mess has been a particularly prolonged, painful, and peculiarly convoluted example of Founders Syndrome. (More detail? Maybe some other time. It'd take a book. But as an employee, then stockholder, and with an ongoing personal investment in the company's goals, I've followed this matter quite closely.)
(For what it's worth, it looks to me like Jeff & Dan, bless their brilliantly difficult souls, eventually learned their limitations and are now implementing a characteristically ingenious workaround for these at Agile Aero. Meanwhile, it's a major shame that the numerous other extremely talented people still at XCOR after they left never got either the credit they deserved or the chance they'd earned.)
To sum up, XCOR getting all this technology done, including about 2/3rds of the system integration and construction of the first Lynx prototype, plus the previous flight vehicles, plus the various engine developments (including Lynx engines running closed-cycle at reduced power ((full power was cash-limited, not tech-limited)) plus a subscale hydrogen engine demonstrator running closed-cycle at full power) for a total burn over the years that I'd estimate at about $50 million, is nothing short of a miracle of technical vision and skill by a LOT of very smart dedicated people.
The IP Opportunity
Which all begs the question: What happens to that XCOR technology now? Who will end up with all that intellectual property - "IP" - the collected patents, prototypes, engineering drawings, design data & notes and other company proprietary info - now that it'll presumably be up for auction?
It's my understanding that a considerable amount of company effort over the last year went into getting the IP organized and recorded. It is not, after all, as if this outcome has not been one of the obvious possibilities for a while now.
Many of the people involved are also no doubt hireable. Probably not cheaply, after the roller-coaster ride they went through to gain their expertise, but hireable.
I see two major chunks of XCOR IP that may be of interest out there: The mass of data that defines and enables Lynx-type vehicles, and the patents and data that enable XCOR-type engines. (There are other useful bits - a non-toxic storable high-performance RCS system here, a low-noise lightweight electronic igniter there... Far too many smaller slices of good design to list here.)
Engines
ULA could obviously use the engine IP, to get them away from (I've heard) paying more for upper stage engines from the Aerojet monopoly than they do for main booster engines. (Do they already have "march-in" rights to the tech from their development association with XCOR? I've heard conflicting stories on that. I don't recall them getting that in the original cryo piston-pump demo contract I negotiated with them back in '08, but I can't say what might have happened since.)
Aerojet might also bid for the engine IP, if only to deny use of it by others to compete with existing Aerojet products. (Aerojet's performance as the sole remaining major US dedicated rocket engine house has been less than stellar, with negative effects across a wide range of US space activities - but that's a different piece.)
SpaceX could undoubtedly develop pump-fed restartable hydrogen upper stage engines for themselves, providing a significant enhanced capability in an area that's one of ULA's remaining competitive edges. But they don't have unlimited development bandwidth and the XCOR engine IP would be a significant shortcut. (Hydrogen engine usefulness to them aside, they also might be interested merely to deny the IP to others, if they wanted to play hardball.)
Orbital-ATK or Sierra Nevada might also be interested in a pre-packaged head start on their own hydrogen upper stage engine capability.
Lynx
As for the Lynx IP, any of the three major US government aerospace airframe houses - Boeing, Lockheed-Martin, Northrop-Grumman - might well be interested. Routinely-reusable fast-turnaround medium-lift from runway to Mach 3/300,000 feet and (maneuverably) back to runway is a niche mission, but it could well be a useful and profitable niche. The initial conceptual and aerodynamic heavy lifting is done, and much of what's left is exactly the sort of nitpicking-detailed integrating-complex-systems-into-constrained-packages work these companies specialize in.
Others?
And then the wild-card: Someone with deep pockets and a strong interest in getting a fast start into the rocket propulsion and/or airport-ops reusable first stage business, who'd been put off till now by all the apparent baggage that came with investing in XCOR as it was. The baggage is shed now. Could be the time to make a move.
It'll be interesting to see who comes away with the IP when the auction ends.
Me, I hope it ends up somewh ere it can be useful to the country's space interests and industries, rather than just being squatted on. We'll see, possibly quite soon. Chapter 7 proceedings, as I understand them, can move fast.
DISCLAIMER: I own a modest amount of XCOR Aerospace common stock, from my time there as Chief of Staff 2006-2009 (CoS was an experiment in expanding XCOR's management bandwidth, highly successful in a number of particulars but ultimately rejected by the organizational immune system) and from an opportunity arising out of that afterwards. I consider it highly unlikely anything I say here will positively influence the (now effectively zero) value of that common stock (but you never know.)
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Space Access Society's sole purpose is to promote radical reductions in the cost of space transportation. You may redistribute this Update in any medium you choose, as long as you do it unedited in its entirety. You may reproduce selected portions of this Update if you credit this Space Access Update as the source and include a pointer to our website.
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Space Access Society http://www.space-access.org (http://www.space-access.org/) space.access@mindspring.com (mailto:space.access@mindspring.com)
"Reach low orbit and you're halfway to anywhere in the Solar System"
- Robert A. Heinlein