XCOR Lynx

XCOR Aerospace of Mojave, California, unveiled a new micro sub orbital space plane on March 26: dubbed the Lynx, the craft will possess the ability to soar to an altitude of perhaps 61km (200,000ft), a height some 50 km short of Virgin Galactic's Spaceshiptwo, but no less impressive.
Unlike Spaceshiptwo and EADS Astrium’s, space jet concept, the Lynx will only carry a single passenger alongside a pilot. XCOR’s CEO, Jeff Greason commented on the unveiling of the craft: ‘One of the advantages of doing a small vehicle that flies frequently is that, if the market goes through ups and downs, or takes a little more time to develop, we're not over-exposing ourselves’.
XCOR are now hoping that the Lynx concept will excite future investors enough to take a gamble on the craft’s potential. As such they are seeking to obtain funding from the AFRL; the Air Vehicles Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory, who are offering $750,000 for a firm who can offer key propulsion innovations with aerospace applications.
With an eye on the micro satellite market as well, XCOR are hoping to offer a block II version of the Lynx - a space plane with a pod housing above the fuselage that can loft small satellites into orbit; micro gravity research will also be offered as part of Lynx’s design parameters.
As XCOR continue to make innovations in the building and operation of liquid fuelled rocket engines, it is likely that we will see a variant of the craft flying in the 2010-2015 timeframe, perhaps operating under the FAA’s experimental permit regime. In the meantime, have a look at the concept designs and video of the space plane in operation.

Images and Video (XCOR Aerospace)

The European reaction to American suborbital capability

EADS Astrium’s chief technical officer, Robert Laine, took the opportunity awarded by the 99th Kelvin Lecture at the London Institution of Engineering and Technology, to further outline the European company’s plans to markets and build a fleet of sub- orbital passenger aircraft for use in the space tourism industry.
Astrium, who are responsible for the construction of the highly successful Ariane 5 rocket, have completed an extensive and systematic market survey to gauge the level of public interest in sub-orbital travel. The results of their market survey suggests that up to 15,000 people a year would be willing to part with £160,000 for a journey to 100km: To service such passenger numbers, Astrium are planning to build 10 sub orbital passenger spacecraft a year starting in the 2011-2015 timeframe.
Robert Laine commented: “To satisfy the market you will need more planes than you think, because once there is regular operation, the price will decrease which means there will be more customers. It will develop towards a classical aeronautical business model. Someone will build the planes; somebody will operate them; somebody will sell the tickets; somebody will provide the accommodation - like any tourism“.
Astrium’s commitment will not extend to operating the vehicles in the same way that NASA operates its STS system; the space planes will be built to order, and then marketed and run by whatever space tourism operator wants to harness their abilities: We can likely expect true space lines to develop to service the demand for sub-orbital travel, with hulls repainted and resprayed to show the logos and colours of individual operators. The model will be no different from the way modern airlines run or operate.
Laine further added that the EADS Astrium space plane was well into development, with wind tunnel testing and the liquid oxygen-methane propellant supplied engine already enduring successful 31 second trials. Half of the space plane’s weight will be taken up by the fuel; a jet assisted flight to 12km will be replaced with the ignition of the craft’s rocket engine that will propel the vehicle upwards using a 80 second burn: when the engine shuts down, the craft should possess enough momentum to propel itself to a 100km altitude. In space, small thrusters will keep the plane’s underside pointing Earthwards. Unlike Rutan’s Spaceshiptwo, the Astrium space plane will not use a ‘feathered re-entry’ method, but will rather use its full underside surface area to decelerate, summoning temperatures of 100C on the spacecraft’s leading edges. Upon, re-entry, the space plane will use its jet engines to make a smooth runway landing. Total journey time? One and a half hours.
Laine indicated that Northern Europe would not likely host the facilities to cater for the space jets, hinting instead that minimum air traffic sites would be utilised instead; although hinting at launching from bases near the Mediterranean, it still remains a distinct possibility that previously indicated locations such as Kiruna, and Lossiemouth will eventually be used also.
The goal now for Astrium is to see how other systems (such as Spaceshiptwo) service and capture the public demand for human sub-orbital space flight. Indeed, to attentive observers, it seems likely that Astrium’s plans are only likely to reach fruition, should others succeed in similar endeavours: European efforts towards sub-orbital passenger services can thus be judged in terms of a response and a reaction to transatlantic developments, rather than as an innovative leader and creator of a regular passenger driven space flight scenario.

(Picture: EADS Astrium)