and space tourism founded september 1999 headquarters mojave air and space port mojave california 1 key people john h. gibson ceo products suborbital spaceflight revenue n a number of employees 40 1 website www.xcor.com xcor aerospace is an american private spaceflight and rocket engine development company based at the mojave air and space port in mojave california midland international air and spaceport in midland texas 2 and the amsterdam area the netherlands . 3 xcor was formed by former members of the rotary rocket rocket engine development team in september 1999 . xcor is headed by john jay gibson who is ceo . 4 xcor aerospace is the parent operation and is concerned with engineering and building spaceships . there are two main subdivisions within it ; xcor space expeditions provides marketing and sales and xcor science conducts scientific and educational payload flights . contents 1 history 2 projects 2.1 lynx rocketplane 2.2 thermoplastic polymer development 2.3 xcor ula liquid hydrogen upper stage engine development project 2.4 historical projects 3 xcor space expeditions 3.1 history 3.2 space flights 4 xcor science 5 see also 6 references 7 external links history edit the company was founded in mojave california in 1999 5 by jeff greason dan delong aleta jackson and doug jones 1 who had previously worked at the rotary rocket company . 6 in 2001 xcor designed and built ez rocket the first privately built and flown rocket powered airplane . 7 ex rocket made its maiden flight in july 2001 . xcor moved its development and manufacturing operations to midland texas from july 2012 to 2015 . 5 the company uses the mojave air and space port primarily to conduct test flights . 8 in 2015 xcor attracted investment from chinese venture firm haiyin capital valuing the company at 140 million . 9 in mid 2015 john jay gibson succeeded jeff greason ceo from 1997 2015 as ceo . 4 6 10 later that year three of the co founders jeff greason dan delong and aleta jackson left the company to found agile aero an aerospace company focused on rapid development and prototyping of aerodynamic spacecraft . 11 in may 2016 the company halted development of the lynx spaceplane and pivoted company focus toward development its lox lh2 engine technology particularly on a funded project for united launch alliance . the company laid off more than 20 people of the 50 60 persons onboard prior to may . 12 projects edit the prototype rocket racer a modified velocity se climbing to 10 000 feet on its first full flight october 29 2007 at the mojave spaceport the rocket racer on landing roll out at mojave . aft view of the rocket racer on landing roll out at mojave . lynx rocketplane edit for more details on this topic see lynx spacecraft . the lynx was planned to be capable of carrying a pilot and a passenger or payload on sub orbital spaceflights over 100 kilometres 62 mi . between 20 and 50 test flights of lynx were planned along with numerous static engine firings on the ground . a full step by step set of taxi tests runway hops and full up flights were planned to get the vehicle to a state of operational readiness . lynx was envisaged to be roughly the size of a small private airplane . it would be capable of flying several times a day making use of reusable non toxic engines to help keep the space plane s operating costs low . 13 the lynx superseded a previous design the xerus spaceplane . 14 the lynx was initially announced in march 2008 with plans for an operational vehicle within two years . 13 that date slipped first to 2012 15 then to 2015 16 and in january 2016 the company declined to give a projected date for the first test flight . 17 the mark ii was projected fly twelve to eighteen months after the first test flight depending on how fast the prototype moved through the test program . 13 16 as of 2012 xcor had presold 175 lynx flights at us 95 000 each . 1 as of 31 may 2016 xcor has laid off a significant portion of its workforce and has placed the development of the lynx spacecraft on indefinite hold to focus on development of a rocket engine . 18 thermoplastic polymer development edit xcor has developed nonburnite a cryo compatible inherently non combustible composite material based on a thermoplastic fluoropolymer resin . low coefficient of thermal expansion and inherent resistance to microcracking make it well suited to cryogenic tank use and also part of vehicle structure . 19 as of february 2012 update nonburnite will be used in the tanks of the lynx rocketplane . 20 xcor ula liquid hydrogen upper stage engine development project edit in march 2011 united launch alliance ula announced they had entered into a joint development contract with xcor for a flight ready 25 000 to 30 000 pounds force 110 130 kn cryogenic lh2 lox upper stage rocket engine . partially as a result of positive results achieved from an earlier 2010 effort to develop a new aluminium alloy engine nozzle using innovative manufacturing techniques ula believes the new engine technology will save several hundred pounds of weight from the large engine and will lead to significantly lower cost and more capable commercial and us government space flights . 21 the multi year project s main objective was to produce a flight ready lox lh2 upper stage engine in the 25 000 to 30 000 pounds force 110 to 130 kn thrust class that costs significantly less to produce and is easier to operate and integrate than competing engine technologies 22 2011 demonstration test firings of an aluminum nozzle on xcor s lynx 5k18 lox kerosene engine demonstrated the ability of the aluminum nozzle to withstand the high temperatures of rocket engine exhaust over numerous tests with no discernable degradation of the material properties of the alloys . the tests validated the design materials and manufacturing processes used in the nozzle and laid a foundation for scaling the design to eelv sized engines . 23 template asof 2011 the length of the development program was stated to depend on the level of investment as milestones are met in the build a little test a little approach favored by xcor . if investment is minimized flight engines would not be available for five to ten years . 22 a subscale 2 500 pounds force 11 kn thrust lh2 lox engine was developed by 2013 named the xr 5h25 in order to support the xcor ula engine development program . the first hot fire test of the prototype engine was in november 2013 the test was deemed successful . 24 it was also the first demonstrated use of a piston pump fed lh2 rocket engine a new method to design liquid hydrogen rocket engines that fundamentally breaks current cost reliability and operational models . 24 in april 2015 ula announced that the xcor ula joint development rocket engine is one of the candidate engines for a new ula upper stage rocket to be fielded no earlier than 2023 . the advanced cryogenic evolved stage aces is a long life on orbit high performance upper stage that after consideration competition by ula will use one of three engines to go into production with . the other engines under consideration are the 110 kilonewton 25 000 lbf aerojet rocketdyne rl 10 and the 670 kilonewton 150 000 lbf blue origin be 3 . aces will be a second stage for the vulcan launch vehicle after 2023 in lieu of the centaur upper stage that is projected to fly on vulcan as early as 2019 . 25 historical projects edit completed projects have included ez rocket a rutan long ez homebuilt aircraft fitted with two xr 4a3 400 pounds force 1.8 kn thrust rocket engines replacing the normal propeller engine . 26 ez rocket has been flown at numerous airshows including the 2005 oshkosh airshow . 27 ez rocket was the first rocket powered aircraft built and flown by a non governmental entity . 1 on 3 december 2005 xcor aerospace flew its ez rocket from mojave california to california city california both in kern county . test pilot dick rutan made the flight which lasted about 9 minutes and carried us mail from the post office in mojave to addresses in california city . this was the first time that a manned rocket powered aircraft was used to carry u.s. mail . rocket racer the ez rocket program led to a second rocketplane design for the rocket racing league . it was built on a velocity se airframe and later became known as the mark i x racer . it was powered by an xcor regeneratively cooled and pump fed xr 4k14 rocket engine . 28 this rocket powered aircraft flew several demonstration flights at the 2008 eaa airventure oshkosh air show . 29 the total thrust for the single engine mark i x racer has been variously reported as 1 500 lbf 6 700 n 28 to 1 800 lbf 8 000 n 30 approximately twice that of the ez rocket initial prototype . the engine uses pressure fed lox and pump fed kerosene a combination that allows the fuel to be stored in the airplane s wing tanks while avoiding potential complications with pumping liquid oxygen . 31 after flight testing of the x racer was completed in 2008 xcor completed seven rocketplane flights in one day . 1 tea cart engine a 15 lbf 67 n thrust rocket motor burning nitrous oxide and ethane mounted on a small industrial cart . the tea cart engine has repeatedly been fired indoors at conferences and demonstrations and had accumulated over 1 837 firings and 9 039 seconds of run time 32 by february 25 2009 . citation needed lox methane rocket engines in testing in 2005 . 33 early lox methane work led to a nasa contract jointly with atk to develop a 7 500 lbf 33 000 n engine for potential use as the cev lunar return engine . on january 16 2007 xcor announced the successful test firing of a preliminary workhorse version of this engine . 34 xcor space expeditions edit history edit the space expedition corporation sxc was founded by harry van hulten and lt gen ret . ben droste in 2008 . initially operating under a wet lease agreement with xcor aerospace it was acquired by xcor aerospace in june 2014 and is now a fully owned subsidiary . michiel mol and maarten elshove joined sxc in 2010 and are thus considered founders . after the acquisition by xcor aerospace sxc has been rebranded as xcor space expeditions and is fully integrated into the xcor brand . xcor aerospace is since organized as part of xcor corporate but operates as the center of xcor . 35 xcor space expeditions is based in the amsterdam area the netherlands and has a regional sales office for asia in hong kong . 36 xcor space expeditions works closely with a global network of 35 independent resellers also called space agents that sell tickets for a flight on the lynx mark i or lynx mark ii to the public . 37 space flights edit xcor space expeditions offers suborbital flights with the xcor lynx mark i and lynx mark ii spaceships for the public . it will operate from mojave california and cura ao where a spaceport is planned to be built . 38 there is no official date set for the start of operation . xcor space expeditions also offers medical check ups training missions with space simulators and g force fighter jet flights for ticketholders among other preoperational missions and events . 39 strategic partnerships have been created with global companies such as philips klm heineken unilever and luminox among others