XCOR and the Lynx rocket

[QuantumG]

Please! You spoiled some good news with a trifling matter.

It's not a trifling matter. It's called journalistic standards and Flight Global could do with a dose.

[woods170]

XCOR Lynx fuselage delivered

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/xcor-lynx-fuselage-delivered-368903/

Wish they're learn how to spell.

What did they misspell?

A few spell errors here and there, and one glaring mistake: Naming RL-10 as an upper stage? It's an engine actually...

[douglas100]

Yeah, I agree it's sloppily written. But if you replace "as" with "on" in the sentence about the RL-10, then it reads correctly.

[Danderman]

XCOR Aerospace Closes $5 Million Round of Investment Capital

http://xcor.com/press-releases/2012/12-02-27_XCOR_closes_investment_round.html

This is very impressive news.

[jongoff]

XCOR Aerospace Closes $5 Million Round of Investment Capital

http://xcor.com/press-releases/2012/12-02-27_XCOR_closes_investment_round.html

This is very impressive news.

Indeed. Most of the more successful newspace companies were started by wealth superangels (Musk, Bezos, Branson, Carmack), and thus never really had to raise investment money from outsiders. XCOR's ability to raise that much angel money bodes well for the industry-as-a-whole in the future, especially if they're able to provide a good exit with high ROI at some point in the next few years. In some ways, I wonder if an XCOR exit (if they succeed) would be seen as more of a "Netscape Moment" than a SpaceX IPO.

~Jon

[dcporter]

I wonder if an XCOR exit (if they succeed) would be seen as more of a "Netscape Moment" than a SpaceX IPO.

~Jon

Great point.  The long-term health of the industry relies on its viability absent rich geeks (long may they reign).

[Airlock]

I wonder if an XCOR exit (if they succeed) would be seen as more of a "Netscape Moment" than a SpaceX IPO.

~Jon

Great point.  The long-term health of the industry relies on its viability absent rich geeks (long may they reign).

I for one welcome our new rich geek overlords

[QuantumG]

“Until this century and until XCOR engines there were no engines that were suitable [for frequent, affordable reuse],” Valentine. “So the best engines were maybe 100 flights. SpaceX is rumored on their Merlin 1-D to get more than 100 flights per engine. With the original Merlins they were hoping to get 25 flights. That’s not good enough.”

http://www.parabolicarc.com/2012/03/19/lee-valentine-on-how-xcor-will-open-up-space/?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

[Robotbeat]

“Until this century and until XCOR engines there were no engines that were suitable [for frequent, affordable reuse],” Valentine. “So the best engines were maybe 100 flights. SpaceX is rumored on their Merlin 1-D to get more than 100 flights per engine. With the original Merlins they were hoping to get 25 flights. That’s not good enough.”

http://www.parabolicarc.com/2012/03/19/lee-valentine-on-how-xcor-will-open-up-space/?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

Talking a bit about their orbital plans as well:

XCOR’s advanced rocket engines will allow for daily flights into suborbital and then orbital space during this decade, investor Lee Valentine said on Saturday.
...
Valentine said XCOR has plans for a fully reusable, two-stage-to-orbit vehicle that would be based on Lynx technology. The first stage would take off from a conventional runway with the orbital vehicle on top. The orbiter would fire its own engines once the combination reached the proper altitude.

The goal is to operate the orbiter on the same principles as the suborbital Lynx. It would be cheap to operate and could be quickly turned around for another flight.Utilizing first-orbit rendezvous, the vehicle could fly once per day from Mojave and multiple times per day from any of several equatorial launch sites that XCOR is considering, Valentine said.
...
Part of the engine development work for the orbital system is being funded through a joint project with United Launch Alliance (ULA), Valentine said. XCOR and ULA are working together to develop a new, less expensive LOX-liquid hydrogen engine to replace the RL-10 motor on the Centaur upper stage. The new engine will be used on ULA’s Delta IV and Atlas V rockets as well as XCOR’s orbital vehicle.
...

I'm definitely a fan of XCOR's general approach (even if I have no special love for wings). It's the right approach that I think will make them more profitable than Virgin Galactic in the suborbital arena and gives them a fighting chance in the fully reusable orbital arena.

[go4mars]

XCOR might be that sneaky underdog no one watched until he stole the hot dog.  I hope so!  "Where'd he come from?!"

  I sure loved hearing Greason's philosophy through youtube!

[Jason1701]

XCOR deserves to win this. It would be funny too.

[Robotbeat]

XCOR's Jeff Greason: "The Rocket is Not the Point"http://xcor.com/news-articles/local-articles/Space_News_Profile_Greason.pdf

[Rocket Science]

XCOR's Jeff Greason: "The Rocket is Not the Point"http://xcor.com/news-articles/local-articles/Space_News_Profile_Greason.pdf

Great article, thanks for posting it!

[SpaceGeek123]

I certainly hope they make it. A Mach 3 spaceplane, multiple flights per year, $95,000/flight (also per passenger) and 650 kg to sub-orbit. Would make a pretty lower or upper-stage (especially if a skyhook or rotovater were made)

I definitely think they could do it. I just think someone will beat them to the punch. Armadillo aerospace have already sent rockets all the way to 90-95 km carrying 14 kg of payload. They have done numerous rocket tests it would take too long to count ect. If they could get there rocket racer up to mach 1 (rather than mach 0.4) then they would have something.

[Jason1701]

I think XCOR is far closer to spaceplane operations than Armadillo. They have the first Lynx fuselage, and have conducted thousands of engine tests.

[douglas100]

Agree. XCOR's main competitor is Virgin Galactic not Armadillo.

[go4mars]

Agree. XCOR's main competitor is Virgin Galactic not Armadillo.

Disagree.  XCOR's main competitor will be Virgin Atlantic (business class) not Virgin Galactic. 

[dcporter]

XCOR is closer to suborbital point-to-point than VG? VG talks about doing it on the next iteration of its vehicle. At that point, yes, whoever is doing p2p will be trying to make inroads into business class travel.

[Robotbeat]

It quite remains to be seen whether point to point suborbital makes any sense.

But I think the suborbital craft like the Lynx or SpaceShipTwo may test out the concept enough to see if it's worthwhile. They provide a high-supersonic platform for a lot cheaper (not per-seat) than Concorde ever was, so there's greater chance of interesting business ideas without the enormous overhead of such a big supersonic transport (though WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo are both a lot higher overhead than Lynx). I suspect that Lynx is a little too small for the business travel market, though, even if it is viable. Doesn't stop them from making a bigger version later, though.

Still, point-to-point over long distances is not practical for the early suborbital vehicles since you need near orbital velocity. It'll be very expensive.

[douglas100]

Still, point-to-point over long distances is not practical for the early suborbital vehicles since you need near orbital velocity. It'll be very expensive.

Absolutely, and of course you need robust thermal protection as well. It's not clear that there will be any substantial market for point-to-point services in the near to medium future.