Space tourism to take off with affordable rocket ship
The Lynx, about the size of a small private plane, is expected to begin flying in 2010, according to developer Xcor Aerospace.
The company said, pending the outcome of negotiations, the Air Force Research Laboratory has awarded it a research contract to develop and test features of the Lynx.
Xcor’s announcement comes two months after aerospace designer Burt Rutan and billionaire Richard Branson unveiled a model of SpaceShipTwo, which is being built for Branson’s Virgin Galactic space tourism company and may begin test flights this year.
Xcor intends to be a spaceship builder, with another company operating The Lynx and setting prices.
The Lynx is designed to take off from a runway like a normal plane, reach a top speed of Mach 2 and an altitude of 200,000 feet, then descend in a circling glide to a runway landing.
Shaped like a bulked-up version of the Rutan-designed Long-EZ homebuilt aircraft, its wings will be located toward the rear of the fuselage, with vertical winglets at the tips.
Powered by clean-burning, fully reuseable, liquid-fuel engines, the Lynx is expected to be capable of making several flights a day, a statement from Xcor said.
“We have designed this vehicle to operate much like a commercial aircraft,” said Xcor chief executive Jeff Greason.
Greason said The Lynx will provide affordable access to space for individuals and researchers, and future versions will offer improved capabilities for research and commercial uses.
Xcor has spent nine years developing rocket engines in a facility at the Mojave Airport north of Los Angeles. It has built and flown two rocket-powered aircraft.
Meanwhile, the space shuttle Endeavour headed for home yesterday after delivering a Japanese module and a Canadian robot to the International Space Station.
Its mission was scheduled to end with a landing at Kennedy Space Center in Florida a little before sunset.
Weather forecasts looked favourable and the shuttle was in good shape, except for a small nick in the windshield, possibly caused by space debris, said flight director Richard Jones.
The nick did not stop NASA officials from clearing Endeavour for landing nor did it concern the seven astronauts on the shuttle, he said.
