XCOR Aerospace

XCOR Aerospace is an American, private rocket propulsion and spacecraft developers, located at Mojave Spaceport in Mojave, California.

History

XCOR was founded by members of the Rotary Rocket rocket maker in Mojave in September 1999. CEO Jeff Greason. In July 2012, the headquarters were moved to Midland, Texas. XCOR considered, among other places, inter alia, to move to the Spaceport Colorado. In the end the choice fell on Midland, as the city administration and the Midland Development Corporation enticed with financial support of up to 10 million U.S. dollars.

Projects

Completed projects

XCOR dealt from the beginning with rocket- powered aircraft:

  • EZ- Rocket: A Rutan Long -EZ with 1.8 kN powerful rocket engines that replace the conventional propeller drives. The aircraft was also shown several times on air shows, among other things, at the 2005 Oshkosh Airshow. EZ- Rocket was the first privately built and flown rocket aircraft worldwide.
  • Rocket Racer: The EZ- Rocket Program led to a second model, which was designed for the Rocket Racing League. It is based on the airframe of a Velocity SE, was also known as Mark -I X -Racer. It was powered by a self-developed engine. It involves the XR- 4K14 - engine. This aircraft made ​​several demonstration flights in 2008 at the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. The thrust of the single engine is said to have totaled 6.7 kN to 8 kN. That would be twice as much as in the EZ- Rocket. The engine burns liquid oxygen and kerosene. This combination allows for easy storage in the wing tanks. After the tests, which were completed in 2008, XCOR was able to complete seven flights a day by plane.
  • Tea cart engine: used a 67 N strong control engine, which nitrous oxide and ethane. It is mounted on a mobile frame and has often started indoors for demonstration purposes and comes to over 1837 firings and 9039 s total duration.
  • Test of LOX / methane rocket engines in 2005.
  • Previous work on LOX / methane engines led to a contract with NASA, along with an ATK of 33 kN strong engine for potential use as a return engine for the Orion CEV lunar lander. On 16 January 2007 XCOR announced it had tested a fully functional previous version.

Lynx

Lynx is a suborbital rocket plane, the pilot and payload to an altitude intended to bring more than 100 km. Between 20 and 50 test flights as well as numerous static engine test on the ground are planned. A complete program with taxi tests, start-up test and complete startup is planned to make the aircraft fully operational. Lynx has the size of a small private aircraft. It is thanks to its reusable, non-toxic thrusters several times to start the day, so as to keep operating costs low. Lynx replaces a previous draft, the Xerus - bodied aircraft. The development of Lynx was announced on 26 March 2008 with the aim to develop a flyable vehicle within two years. This date was postponed several times first to the spring of 2012, and now 2013., The Mark II model is to fly nine to 18 months after the prototype Mark I, depending on how fast the test program can be completed.

XCOR Aerospace is already sold in advance 175 Lynx flights for each 95,000 U.S. dollars.

Nonburnite

XCOR developed Nonburnite a kryokompatiblen, inherently non-flammable composite material based on thermoplastic fluoropolymer resin. A low temperature coefficient, and a built-in reduction of microcracks make it a suitable material for cryogenic tank and the structure of the spacecraft itself

Community development of a LH2 -fueled upper stage with ULA

In March 2011, the United Launch Alliance ( ULA ) announced that they have signed an agreement to jointly develop an airworthy upper engine with XCOR. This should be developed with cryogenic LH2 and LOX. Based on positive attempts to develop a new engine nozzle made ​​of aluminum alloys using innovative manufacturing processes, ULA believes that the new engine will be built hundred of kilograms lighter and can lead to lower costs and higher payload for the private and public space.

The main objective of the development is the production of an engine with a thrust of 110-130 kN, having significantly lower production costs and easier to operate and integrate than comparable engines.

The first tests took place on 22 March 2011 and took advantage of the for- Lynx LOX - kerosene engine 5K18. The engine nozzle combination showed the ability of the aluminum nozzle to withstand the high temperatures in several test runs with no visible wear or change in the material properties. The tests confirmed the design, choice of materials and the manufacturing method of the nozzle and are based on the increase of the existing design.

The duration of the development program will depend on the amount of investment, which in reaching the goals set in the context of XCORs "build- a-little, test- a-little " principle ( Build a little, Test a bit ) are required. With a reduction of investment, the engine would only completed in five to ten years.

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