XCOR Sets Up Shop in Florida
XCOR to establish operations and manufacturing base in Florida
“Plans call for XCOR to commence initial operations from a Florida location in 2014 when they plan on bringing the Lynx Mark I prototype for demonstration and pathfinder flights. This will be followed by the basing of a Lynx Mark II production vehicle in Florida, and eventually production of Lynx vehicles and other XCOR products should market demand materialize and the emerging commercial space industry maintain its current momentum.”
Keith’s note: This event has been known about for weeks. Does the Commercial Spaceflight Federation make any advance mention of this important event for one of its members – or note today’s announcement? No. No mention of Bolden’s media event on commercial space either.
Are you really that surprised by this?
Personally, I dont understand how these organizations are so slow to get information out to their members and the public. CASIS being one of the worst offenders.
Just as an example, the agency I work for had a NOI approved for a project last monday morning. By noon that same day we had it up on the public website along with a newsletter being sent out. Horribly bad efficiency or just incompetence (probably both) on CSF.
I don’t know but the more I read about this outfit the more sceptical I get. XCOR is also signing a $10 million deal with Midland TX for corporate headquarters and reasearch faciltity and now it trying to get a $4 million dollar deal from Florida for facilities at the Shuttle Landing Center in KSC. They are also purportedly going to launch from California and other sites around the world. Something for everybody? If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.
I really don’t get it either.
Florida has an advantage as a launch site for Eastward orbital launches – which is irrelevant.
KSC has a long “space friendly” landing strip – but does the Lynx really need this?
You can control access really well, but the nice thing about the Lynx is that it takes off like a plane – if the engine cuts off at T+1, it just rolls to a stop instead of collapsing back into a launch pad. So they don’t need that either.
Is it the low altitude? (Is that even a plus?) Hardly the only airport in the country that’s lower than Mojave.
And on the downside – they probably can’t play when there are real launches going on, it’s far away from HQ, and there are alligators.
As I understand it the availability of an almost unlimited supply of experienced spaceplane engineers and technicians was a factor in the XCOR decision. The airspace can be controlled and restricted when needed, there are other things to see, and a lot of people will be watching any launch.
Don’t get me wrong – I love the Lynx… But the whole point is that it doesn’t require a standing army of operations guys to handle, and IMO doesn’t really require closed airspace either. It is not a rocket. They flew the modified Long EZ in Mojave, and this one is just bigger.
As for the whole “people watching” thing – it is a distraction from the main business model. It’s ok to take care of PR, but you don’t let PR dictate the location of your base of operations – that’s the tail wagging the dog.
Anyway – they have their reasons. Maybe a large state grant – who knows. I hope they do well – I like their design a lot more than the Scaled Composites one.
The CSF is starting to look like the local mob. Pay them off and they’ll leave you alone, and that’s about all there is to it. I can’t figure out what they do except promote themselves once in a while — with propaganda rather than actual accomplishments. Maybe I’m being unfair, but they just seem like another country club to me.
As for XCOR, they generally seem to know what they’re doing, so I’m assuming that they do this time, too.
Steve