XCOR Announces Space Tourism Venture

On Wed, 03 Dec 2008 09:10:54 -0600, in a place far, far away, Pat
Flannery made the phosphor on my monitor glow in
such a way as to indicate that:



wrote:
See:

http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/gener...&channel=space


Two problems:
1.) The flight is damned expensive.

So? They already have customers lined up.

2.) It only gets to 61 kilometers max altitude...according to the
generally accepted definition, space starts at 100 kilometers.
This doesn't even meet the old Air Force standard of 50 miles being the
beginning of space that they came up with for the X-15, as it only gets
to 38 miles up.

So? They already have customers lined up.

Until (and if) they get their Lynx Mk. 2 built that is capable of
reaching space, they aren't in real competition with Virgin Galactic.

Of course they are. And even if they aren't, so what? They have
their own market.

Also, unlike Virgin Galactic, XCOR is a pretty small group with big
plans...they don't have Branson's deep pockets or Rutan's aeronautical
savvy.

Aeronautical savvy isn't everything when it comes to rocketplanes.
They certainly have a lot more propulsion savvy than Rutan. And it
doesn't matter how "small" they are. They have investors.

They may get Lynx Mk.1 flying, but Lynx Mk. 2 will be a whole other ball
of wax as far as design challenges go.

Why? It's just a slight scale up.