XCOR EZ-Rocket

EZ-Rocket one week after its first flight
Cockpit. Engine on-off switches on left side panel are placarded "FWD - LOUD; BACK - QUIET"

The XCOR EZ-Rocket is a test platform for the XCOR rocket propulsion system. The airplane is a modified Rutan Long-EZ, with the propeller replaced by first one, then later a pair of pressure-fed regeneratively cooled liquid-fuelled rocket engines and an underslung fuel tank. The engines are restartable in flight, and are contained within Kevlar armor shielding. The EZ-Rocket is registered as an experimental aircraft.

Development and history

The first flight took place on July 21, 2001, flown by test pilot Dick Rutan.[1]

On a typical flight, the EZ-Rocket takes off on rockets, gains altitude for a minute or so, then switches off the rockets and glides to a deadstick landing.

The vehicle actually flies better during deadstick glide landings than a Long-EZ due to lack of drag from a stationary pusher propeller the vehicle's aerodynamics are cleaner in spite of its belly tank. It is also lighter due to the lack of a piston engine (the rocket propulsion system is significantly lighter), so enjoys significantly lower wing loading than a stock Long-EZ.

When XCOR began flying its EZ-Rocket in 2001, the company decided to have it FAA certified as an experimental aircraft, avoiding the additional time required to seek a launch vehicle license from the Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST). Jeff Greason, a co-founder of XCOR, said on February 10, 2003 if they were starting out at that time they probably would seek an AST license due to the progress made in developing a regulatory regime for suborbitals.[2]

Milestones and records

EZ-Rocket, flown by Dick Rutan, touches down at California City, California on December 3, 2005, setting a point-to-point distance record for rocket-powered, ground-launched aircraft.

Derivatives

The Rocket Racing League aircraft currently in development, the Mark-III X-racer, is a design descendant of the EZ-Rocket aircraft. Although XCOR is not the developer of the rocket engine for the Mark-III, XCOR did develop the rocket engine for the Mark-I X-Racer, the first of the X-Racers to use a single rocket engine on a Velocity SE basic airframe, and the first X-Racer to utilize kerosene instead of isopropyl alcohol fuel. XCOR used both design and operational experience from the EZ-Rocket in the Mark-I rocket aircraft design.

Specifications

Twin rocket engines
Dick Rutan standing next to the engines of the EZ-Rocket

See also

References

  1. Flight Tests Of XCOR’s EZ-Rocket and Progress Toward a Microgravity and Microspacecraft Launcher
  2. http://www.hobbyspace.com/AAdmin/archive/RLV/2003/RLVNews2003-02.html#Feb.11.03
  3. 1 2 3 4 "First Flights - XCOR Aerospace". Mojave Virtual Museum. Retrieved 2006-11-13.
  4. 1 2 3 Deaver, Bill (2005-12-22). "XCOR EZ-Rocket makes more history at CalCity". Mojave Desert News.
  5. FAI Records Archived March 10, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  6. List of Blériot medals awarded to Dick Rutan
  7. XCOR X-Racer, by Nancy Atkinson, Universe Today, 2009-08-06, accessed 2010-04-26.
  8. "LOX-Alcohol Rocket Engine". www.xcor.com. XCOR Aerospace, Inc. Retrieved 2015-06-15.
  9. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on February 20, 2009. Retrieved January 29, 2009.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.