XCor Receives Sub-Orbital Launch Permit

Marc Newman writes "MSNBC is reporting that XCor has received the second FAA suborbital launch permit. Xcor Aerospace is not competing in the X-Prize but rather is 'in it to make money'. They are still awaiting a launch permit for their Mojave desert launch site. It'd be interesting if XCor beat Scaled Composites with the first sub-orbital flight but couldn't claim the $10 million prize."

Comments

Requirements?

[wmspringer]

What are the requirements for winning the X-prize, again?

I remember you have to send a manned shuttle up twice within two weeks, but is it limited to those teams that are registered?

I know, I should RTFA...

Sounds like they are well on their way

[Fiz Ocelot]

Quote off the site:"The EZ-Rocket has flown 15 times to date. The first 13 flights were conducted at our base of operations at the Mojave Civilian Flight Test Center in Mojave, CA. Flights 14 and 15 were performed in front of a very large crowd of airshow attendees at the EAA AirVenture fly-in at Oshkosh, Wisconsin."

Why exactly are they not in the x-prize competition? Looks like they may be some real competition.

Obligatory Question

[platypibri]

I guess I am risking my karma that this might be modded of topic, but doesn't the requirement for a permit to engage in a sub-orbital flight set a bad precedent as far as the politicalization of space goes. I mean, who owns earth orbit? How far up does the United States go before you enter "International Space"? We have a flag on the moon, does that mean a private company couldn't fund and develop a moon base? Are we going to have to have another "Age of Conquest" to divy up the moon, or is globalization a necessity for space colinization? I just find the whole thing so facinating.

Re:Obligatory Question

[Anonymous Coward]

In the general sense, I'm sure there were none whatsoever. Build a ship, go sailing. However, anyone whose expedition was funded likely did have conditions imposed upon their specific trip. Your point though is well made.

Family Affair

[levram2]

What is interesting is that XCOR's last rocket propelled plane was flown by Dick Rutan, Burt Rutan's brother.

Burt Rutan's company Scaled Composites has the first license for their SpaceShipOne.

http://www.dickrutan.com/rocket.html

Re:Family Affair

[ruprechtjones]

Dick Rutan also flew the Voyager with Yeager's daughter, very cool. I think the Rutan family will be a big part of our aeronautical history for the next 20 years.

The best (rough, from memory) quote from Dick: "My brother told me the Voyager would fly within the specs he told me. After we landed, he mentioned that I, nor anyone else, questioned his specs or asked him to prove his formulas mathematically. I just trusted what he said."

Financial Motive

[Fortress]

Not very suprising that it doesn't matter to Xcor whether they win the prize or not. I don't think $10M will cover the development costs of most of the entries, so I think most of them are "in it for the money." They must be hoping for some sort of commercial success/government contract using their techniques. Think of it as a long term investment.

The X-Prize itself serves more of a publicity role, keeping the developing entries in the media (including /.) and greasing the wheels of the FAA to give permits. The permits are interesting-They are a milestone showing which of the entries are serious and which are vaporware.

Exciting stuff nonetheless.

Of course it is money, but think for a moment.

[efuseekay]

The Xprize has conditions (like no government funding etc etc) that Xcor probably does not want to follow.

Also, to win the Xprize, one has to do it with a reusable LV, with 3 passengers and a 2 week (?) turnaround between flights etc etc.

So it's not so surprising. Of course all the Xprize people are in for the money. One can ask why subscribe to so many constraints, well the Xprize Consortium is backed by a lot of influential people. By subscribting to it, you can free publicity, and A LOT OF connections to people who probably will be your future customers (or your future customers' friends.)

Re:nice bluff

[aggiefalcon01]

Subtle, but good point.

XCor has basically designed a rocket engine, and slapped it into a modified kit plane to test it. Sure, they've got renderings of a larger, suborbital-worthy ship, but nothing else to show for it for a few years now.

Scaled Composites, OTOH, has designed and built a rocket engine, a suborbital spaceship, and a carrier to get the ship up to launching altitude.

They may both be competing for dollars (present or future), but it's easy to see who's farther along.

Re:Money, not money

[D'Sphitz]

I imagine any such venture would cost much more than $10 mil, so nobody is going to make money by winning the prize, only cut their losses by that much.

reusable shuttle craft?

[NXprime]

God wouldn't it be nice if Xcors' plane could be used as a NASA shuttle replacement to and from the space station at least? Has about the right design to it for that purpose based on what we've seen with NASA's ideas for a small shullte replacement. Am I right here? Would save quite a bit of development costs if this is chosen for that purpose. I do believe the ISS is in a low orbit too so this should work out well. This + next gen huge cargo space freighter might be a nice little combo for future space missions/space development. Now attach that small shuttle on a frieghter and drive that thing to the moon. :)

Bulk reply from XCOR employee

[Anonymous Coward]

I cannot seem to retrieve my /. password using the email method, so I am going to post as AC and hope that somebody's moderating at 0 to bump this up. I am coming to you live from the Space Access Society Meeting in Phoenix, AZ.

I just want to clear up some confusion generated by inaccuracies both in the MSNBC story and the slashdot post:

The vehicle we have received a licence for, as stated in our press release is not a full suborbital vehicle and is not an X-Prize competitor. It is an intermediate technology research platform to continue development of engines and related systems that began flight testing on the EZ-Rocket, our currently flying manned rocket powered airplane. It is also noted that this new vehicle, the Sphinx, has not yet been built. Quoth the press release: "It is helpful that RLV companies can obtain their launch licenses during vehicle design, prior to committing capital to build a vehicle."

A stated before, we are not an X-Prize competitor, due to among other things, a conflict in the time scale of the X-Prize and our business development plan, as well as the planned configuration of our current suborbital vehicle design. XCOR is focused on revenue generation. However, we fully support the X-Prize and offer technology and services to X-Prize entrants, as well as moral and legislative support.

Mike Massee XCOR Aerospace www.xcor.com

similarly...

[rebelcool]

much like today, there were regulations in water extending out a set distance from shores. Just how far out depended on who you asked.

But there were still international waters (like today) that nobody owns and have little in the way of law. Space is like that, and the air between orbit and ground is like the border waters.

Xcor - a cool company!

[Alioth]

I actually went to CA to see the unveiling of their Rocket-Ez a couple of years ago, and we heard Jeff Greason speak on the visions for the company - the mission, to make a nontoxic, reusable (in the real sense) rocket motor. They are already selling small rocket engines for manoevering thrusters on spacecraft.

I wrote about it at the time on my website and took plenty of photos. It was quite impressive the number of firsts that Xcor were achieving.

FDP: Commercialization of Space

[QuantumFTL]

As mentioned in previous posts, I'm an intern at NASA but I absolutely love to see commerical ventures working at launching into orbit.

Commericialization of space is important in the sense that space will eventually no longer be monopolized by scientists and engineers, but be within the grasp of ordinary people of all kinds of backgrounds. I believe quite strongly that the only way to democratize space, and keep it accessible to the average person is to provide an economic incentive for businesses to exploit their various resources.

I look forward to the day where a father and son might build a spaceship together and, at very least, head towards the stratosphere. Perhaps saftety systems will be developed to make this a reality.

I wish XCor the best of luck. Perhaps they will develope things we have not yet imagined :)