Er, well, please read the press release. The EZ-Rocket is a TEST BED. The 400 lbf engines are DEMONSTRATORS. We will never fly the EZ-Rocket beynd Vne (about 200 mph). The fuel tank = about two minutes of thrust, enough to get to about 12k feet. The cockpit is not pressurized, so we won't take it above that altitude. It's just a demonstrator. But the company has learned a heck of a lot and we're keen to apply that knowledge to bigger and better things: we know what it takes to get to orbit; the EZ won't.
And, BTW, XCOR is not Scaled Composites, and we are not Burt Rutan. Burt designed the Long-EZ. Dick, his BROTHER, flies it for us. Burt is a friend and a neighbor, but he has his own stuff he is working on.
The EZ-Rocket is safe to fly. Webuild safe rocket engines. In fact, every time we test an engine we stand beside it. This is to show that the way we, XCOR, design and build rocket engines is different that what has gone before. We are not after the last erg of energy, what we are after is safe, reliable, restartable, reusable engines for various applications -- many of which have nothing to do with getting to space but which we can't talk about because our business plan is built on them.;->
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Er, well, please read the press release. The EZ-Rocket is a TEST BED. The 400 lbf engines are DEMONSTRATORS. We will never fly the EZ-Rocket beynd Vne (about 200 mph). The fuel tank = about two minutes of thrust, enough to get to about 12k feet. The cockpit is not pressurized, so we won't take it above that altitude. It's just a demonstrator. But the company has learned a heck of a lot and we're keen to apply that knowledge to bigger and better things: we know what it takes to get to orbit; the EZ won't.
And, BTW, XCOR is not Scaled Composites, and we are not Burt Rutan. Burt designed the Long-EZ. Dick, his BROTHER, flies it for us. Burt is a friend and a neighbor, but he has his own stuff he is working on.
The EZ-Rocket is safe to fly. Webuild safe rocket engines. In fact, every time we test an engine we stand beside it. This is to show that the way we, XCOR, design and build rocket engines is different that what has gone before. We are not after the last erg of energy, what we are after is safe, reliable, restartable, reusable engines for various applications -- many of which have nothing to do with getting to space but which we can't talk about because our business plan is built on them. ;->
Aleta Jackson, one of XCOR's founders