Lynx (rocket plane)

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Lynx
Model of the Lynx in Amsterdam
Model of the Lynx in Amsterdam
Type: Rocket plane
Design country:

United StatesUnited States United States

Manufacturer:

XCOR

First flight:

n / A

Lynx ( old Greek for "lynx") was a development project for a two-seat rocket aircraft for suborbital space flights that should take off and land horizontally. In addition to the pilot, either a scientific payload or a second person should be transported in the cockpit. The development was stopped in 2016.

Construction and drive

When designing Lynx, the manufacturer XCOR Aerospace set itself the goal of using a simple design to achieve high reliability, complete reusability and thus low operating costs. Lynx should have four engines of the type XR-5K18 feature, the liquid oxygen (LOX) and kerosene burn. Instead of the usual turbo pumps , the use of cheaper piston pumps was planned.

Intended versions

Lynx Mark I.

The first prototype of the Lynx should carry the designation Mark I and serve for the testing of the aircraft as well as the licensing for passenger flights by the US aviation authority FAA . The summit height should be 61 km.

Lynx Mark II

The Mark II version should be largely identical to the Mark I, but have a lower curb weight. Among other things, the tank should be made of the lightweight composite material Nonburnite in order to save weight. This would have had a positive effect on the climbing performance , so that heights of over 100 km appeared to be achievable, which would have crossed the boundary to space. The Mark II version was designed for payloads up to 120 kg: either a space tourist or scientific experiments.

Technical specifications

Parameter Data
length 8.50 m
span 7.32 m
height 2.20 m
drive 4 XR-5K18 liquid thrusters, re-ignitable
thrust 4 × 12.9 kN
payload 120 kg
Tank capacity 720 kg

Lynx Mark III

The Mark III version was announced as a further development with a modified drive system and chassis. With an additional external container, it should carry up to 650 kg more payload, for example a scientific experiment or a kick stage to bring a small satellite into earth orbit.

Development history

Lynx was announced by XCOR Aerospace in March 2008, when the first test flight was scheduled for 2010. Development costs for the Mark I version were estimated at less than $ 10 million. The developers achieved success on March 26, 2013, when an engine successfully completed a test run of 67 seconds on the ground. XCOR hired the former shuttle astronaut Rick Searfoss as a test pilot . The first test flights with the Mark I version were announced for summer 2013, but have not yet taken place.

In May 2016, XCOR announced that the development of Lynx would be suspended for the time being. Instead, XCOR would focus on the drives. For cost reasons, XCOR had to lay off a considerable number of employees. The project was not resumed.

Flight history

The flights should take place from the Mojave Air & Space Port , a launch site on Curaçao and the Kennedy Space Center , but in principle Lynx should be able to take off from any airport with a runway at least 2,400 m long. The plan was to drag the aircraft to the beginning of the runway, from where it would take off with its own engines. In the first three minutes of the flight it was supposed to climb at Mach 2.9 to an altitude of 58.5 km, where the engines would have been switched off. The plane should then continue to climb to a summit altitude of 103 km. According to the plans, the weightlessness phase would have lasted about 6 minutes. A braking delay of up to 4 g was expected for re-entry into the atmosphere . It should be possible to re-ignite the engines during the approach. The landing would have been horizontal, with a planned speed of around 170 km / h. The entire flight should follow visual flight rules .

The aircraft should be ready to take off again after just two hours. This would have made four flights a day possible, even eight flights in two-shift operation.

use

The intended purpose of Lynx flights was space tourism and scientific microgravity experiments .

The tourist marketing of the Lynx flights was carried out by the Space Expedition Corporation (SXC). The price for a flight on the Mark I was $ 95,000, and a flight on the Mark II was offered for $ 100,000. On January 1, 2016, the price of the Mark 2 was raised to $ 150,000. Since the beginning of 2013, competitions were also held to win airline tickets, for example by Unilever to advertise Ax and by the airline KLM .

The Citizens in Space organization provided funding for scientific payloads ; The development partner was the Silicon Valley Space Center . A first contract included 100 experiments as well as 10 people supervising the experiments during the flight.

literature

  • Erik Seedhouse: XCOR - Developing the Next Generation Spaceplane. Springer, Cham 2016, ISBN 978-3-319-26110-2 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Jeff Foust: XCOR lays off employees to focus on engine development. Space News, May 31, 2016, accessed November 11, 2017 .
  2. ^ A b c Doug Messier: Lee Valentine on How XCOR Will Open Up Space. March 19, 2012, accessed April 11, 2013 .
  3. ↑ a b XCOR Aerospace Announces Significant Propulsion Milestone on Lynx Suborbital Vehicle. In: PR Newswire. XCOR, March 26, 2013, accessed April 10, 2013 .
  4. ↑ The Lynx Mark II. SXC, 2013, archived from the original on May 15, 2013 ; accessed on November 11, 2017 (English, original dimensions in feet).
  5. ↑ XCOR Aerospace Suborbital Vehicle To Fly Within Two Years. In: Space Travel. March 27, 2008, accessed July 8, 2019 .
  6. ^ John Antczak: New rocket aims for space tourism market. NBC, March 27, 2008, accessed April 11, 2013 .
  7. ↑ Richard A. Searfoss. XCOR, December 6, 2012, archived from the original on January 13, 2013 ; accessed on April 10, 2013 .
  8. ↑ Michael Blfiore: Lynx Rocket Plane Reading for Summer Flight. January 9, 2013, accessed on April 10, 2013 (English): "The Lynx, a two seat rocket-powered airplane under development by XCOR Aerospace, is on track to start flight testing this summer, company executives tell me."
  9. ^ Spaceports. XCOR Space Expeditions, archived from the original on May 8, 2015 ; accessed on June 6, 2015 .
  10. ↑ Todd Halvorson: XCOR Aerospace plans suborbital flights from KSC by 2015. Florida Today, June 28, 2013, archived from the original on July 15, 2013 ; accessed on September 30, 2013 (English).
  11. ^ Spaceflight. SXC, archived from the original on April 1, 2013 ; accessed on April 10, 2013 .
  12. ^ About Lynx. XCOR, archived from the original on April 30, 2010 ; accessed on April 12, 2013 (English): "... fast turnaround (two hours) ..."
  13. ^ XCOR Aerospace Announces Space Expedition Corporation (SXC) As General Sales Agent For Space Tourism Flights. In: PR Newswire. XCOR, June 7, 2012, accessed April 10, 2013 .
  14. ↑ XCOR To Raise Ticket Prices for Suborbital Flights. July 22, 2015, accessed August 4, 2015 .
  15. ^ Doug Messier: Silicon Valley Space Center to Develop Suborbital Payloads for Lynx. Parabolic Arc, March 20, 2013, accessed April 10, 2013 .