…is XCOR ahead of schedule?
The first major piece of structure – the fuselage of the Mk1 version — will be delivered to Xcor the week of 16 January, said Andrew Nelson, chief operating officer and vice president of business development.
Next month, Xcor will tender work packages for building the cockpit pressure vessel and strakes in February, with delivery of the two subassemblies scheduled in April in May, said Khaki Rodway McKee, the Xcor programme manager.
Roll-out of the Mk1 is scheduled in July or August from Xcor’s hangar in Mojave, California, she said.
Taxi tests are scheduled to begin in October or November, which will be quickly followed by a short hop and finally a brief first flight by the end of the year.
When I was up there a few weeks ago, they were expecting the fuselage in February. And a rollout in summer?
The first major piece of structure – the fuselage of the Mk1 version — will be delivered to Xcor the week of 16 January…
Who was vendor for the fuselage? The other components?
A company back east consisting of Scaled veterans. Not sure about other components.
When you say back east, you mean east coast, or just east of California?
I mean one of the Carolinas. I think that’s what Dan said, anyway.
Did you follow the link to the original Flight Global article? There are several more juicy details about XCOR’s future plans, such as their Mk 3 model, along with some market projections.
http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/xcor-reveals-lynx-test-schedule-366803/
I must be missing something. I always think of the Lynx as being commercially viable for fast point to point travel which never seems to be mentioned. Perhaps even for military use in getting specialists where they need to be fast.
I always think of the Lynx as being commercially viable for fast point to point travel which never seems to be mentioned.
It’s never mentioned because it’s not. Something that can only go to a hundred kilometers altitude isn’t going to go very far downrange.
Ok, maybe I don’t know quite enough of the relevant math and engineering state-of-the-art, but… that talks about a Lynx 3 as being able to deliver ~650KG to low earth orbit. Given the existence of ultra-high-ISP engines you could use from there (ion, whatever) isn’t that almost as good as any orbit you like for applications that can wait a month for the orbit to be adjusted?
That’s obviously wrong and Flightglobal should be ashamed for publishing it (along with all the spelling and grammar mistakes in *every* article on their website).
I’ll bet what they really meant was that 650 kg is the total payload for the Mk 3. That would have to include the pod, the satellite, and the second stage booster. Actual payload to orbit would be much less. (And 650 kg is much more than the Mk 2 payload, as I recall.)
yes, 650kg is the expected maximum dorsal pod payload for the Mk3. And it’s not news: http://xcor.com/images/vehicles/lynx/PUG-overview_MK-II_v02-bigtext.jpg
There are several basic mixups in addition to the ones mentioned: E.g the Mark I IS commercial and the lower altitude initial vehicle (60km?), the Mark II is the 100km+ vehicle.
Etcetera.