First we had airlines; now we also have spacelines. Virgin Galactic of Sir Richard Branson's Virgin empire has been selling space tickets since mid 2005 for $200,000. Now, Virgin Galactic may see some competition from XCOR Aerospace as the California aerospace company also plans to enter the space tourism industry, estimated at over a half-billion dollars. XCOR is building a rocket ship, the Lynx, capable of suborbital flights.There are some big differences between the Lynx and Virgin's SpaceShipTwo. The Lynx is a two-seat craft while SpaceShipTwo will carry six passengers in addition to two pilots. The Lynx will reach an altitude of 37 miles above the earth and a speed of Mach2, while the SS2 will reach 68 miles and three times the speed of sound. The lynx is expected to start flying in 2010, the SS2 may start as early as 2009. While XCOR has yet to put a price on the flight, it has called it affordable.
There are other differences as well though. Unlike the SS2, which is launched attached to a mothership and is then released at 50,000 feet when it ignites its hybrid rocket to climb to 360,000 feet, the Lynx, about the size of a small private plane, will launch itself, taking off from a runway like any plane, and reach 200,000 feet.
Needless to say there are other more subtle engineering differences too complicated (at least for me) to point out, but just from looking at the pictures of both spaceships, I must say the SS2 looks really cool. The Lynx's ability to take off like a normal airplane, though, is quite amazing.Marketing wise, it seems that XCOR still has a lot to work out. Meanwhile, Branson waisted no time adding to Burt Rutan's vision, offering specific duration of weightlessness, altitude, price and group experience.
If you could afford the ride, experiencing weightlessness while seeing the stars above and the Earth and its atmosphere below, which would you choose? True, this isn't "real" space exploration, but still, I am quite happy to see increased competition. With only the Russian Space Agency currently providing space tourism, competition can only lead to improvements and innovations.
Here's the Lynx Suborbital Vehicle Animation:
Here's SpaceShipTwo promotional video:
Other aspiring space tourism companies:
- Space Adventures
- Blue Origin
- Armadillo Aerospace
- Rocketplane
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