The Lynx, a suborbital plane that takes off and lands horizontally

We'll be seeing this in the air in two years. [Link]

US Company Xcor Aerospace revealed its plans for the new rocketplane at the company's headquarters, on the edge of the tarmac of the US's first certified private spaceport. SpaceShipTwo is under development just next door.

Xcor say Lynx Mark I will start flights two years from now. Funding from the Air Vehicles Directorate of the US Air Force Research Laboratory and additional sources not yet revealed will help develop the craft in time. Xcor says that 50 test flights starting in 2010 over a period of six months should be enough to ready Lynx Mark I for commercial operations.

The Ansari X Prize-winning SpaceShipOne and its successor SpaceShipTwo both need to be carried to high altitude beneath a specialized carrier airplane.

Taste of space

The Lynx, however, will take off and land from long airport runways, using its own rocket engines for power from the taxiway all the way to an altitude of 61 km. Unlike the US space shuttle, which glides to a landing without engine power, the Lynx will be able to abort a landing by switching its rockets back on ready for another attempt.

Lynx is fueled by kerosene – the standard fuel of jet aircraft – mixed with liquid oxygen. The relatively simple-to-handle fuel and oxidiser combination should help to give the craft a rapid turnaround time, says company president Jeffrey Greason.

"Our company's goal has always been to build rocket-powered vehicles that can be flown and operated like regular aircraft," he says. Lynx is even relatively environmentally friendly: "They are fully reusable, burn cleanly, and release fewer particulates than solid fuel or hybrid rocket motors," Greason says.

The two-seater can carry aloft either one passenger – seated next to the pilot – or a scientific or commercial payload. The whole flight will last about 25 minutes, providing a brief taste of weightlessness and the view of the jet-black, star-filled sky above the blue Earth. It is an experience that some surveys indicate thousands of people may be willing to pay hefty sums for.

Lynx FAQ. [Link]

Is the Lynx your first vehicle?
No. The Lynx is XCOR’s third rocket-powered vehicle. Our first, the EZ-Rocket, made 26 flights and set a point-to-point distance record for rocket-powered aircraft.

The second aircraft, now undergoing flight tests, has a more powerful and advanced rocket engine that uses XCOR’s proprietary technology. It is the first private sector manned rocket-powered aircraft to use a pump-fed fuel system.

The Lynx will not be our last vehicle. It is another step on a technology path that will lead to construction of cost effective fully orbital spaceships.