Lynx rocketplane

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The Lynx rocket plane is being developed by the California-based company XCOR to compete in the future suborbital space flight market. The Lynx will carry one pilot and a ticketed passenger above 60km.

Contents 1 Description 2 Operations 3 Competition 4 Controversy 4.1 Debate about whether the Lynx is a suborbital craft 5 References

[edit] Description

The Lynx is planned to be a two-seat suborbital spacecraft about the size of a small private airplane. It will be capable of carrying one pilot and one passenger in a side-by-side seating arrangement. It will have two delta-shaped wings with winglets at the tips of its wings doubling as vertical stabilizers. It will have four liquid rocket engines at the rear of the fuselage burning non-toxic propellants.^[1] These engines will probably be based on XCOR's previous rocket engines which burned either isopropyl alcohol, kerosene, or methane and used liquid oxygen as an oxidizer.

[edit] Operations

According to XCOR, the Lynx will operate several times a day, and will also have the capacity to deliver payloads into space. The Lynx is currently scheduled to have its first flight in 2010. XCOR currently plans to have the Lynx's initial flights from the Mojave Air and Spaceport in Mojave, California.^[2] Because it lacks any propulsion system other than its rocket engines, the Lynx will have to be towed to the end of the runway. Once positioned on the runway, the pilot will ignite the four rocket engines and begin a steep climb. The engines will be shut off at approximately 138,000 feet and Mach 2. The spaceplane will then continue to climb, unpowered until it reaches an apogee of approximately 200,000 feet or 61km. The spacecraft will experience a little over four minutes of weightlessness before reentering the Earth's atmosphere. The occupants of the Lynx may experience up to four times normal gravity during reentry. Once it has completed reentry, the Lynx will then glide down and perform an unpowered landing. The total fight time is projected to last about 30 minutes.^[3]

[edit] Competition

This rocket plane will compete with Virgin Galactic's Spaceship2 and the EADS Astrium. The Lynx has a different business model to these other planes, as it hopes to reduce cost by reducing the maximum altitude experienced by the rocket plane. While the other planes will fly to at least 100 km, the Lynx will only make it to 60km. This approach requires less fuel, but still provides weightlessness and a black sky. XCOR hopes that its approach can substantially reduce that price.

[edit] Controversy

[edit] Debate about whether the Lynx is a suborbital craft

The boundary of space is generally held to be about 100km vertically above the earth. While some competing suborbital spacecraft will be able to travel to 100km, the Lynx will only travel to 60km. If it doesn't reach an altitude that is considered space, then a question is raised as to whether it is really a sub orbital spacecraft, or a high altitude jet (rocket) aircraft.

[edit] References