New RocketMotorTwo Test Firing Last Week

Posted
by
Doug Messier
on June 10, 2012, at 3:50 pm
in News
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Comments: 11 responses
11 Comments


The latest entry on Scaled Composites’s test summaries page. They’re still examining the internal geometry of the burn.

Fire: 11
Date: 7 June 12

Objectives:
Eleventh full scale flight design RM2 hot-fire.
Continued evaluation of all systems and components:
- Pressurization
- Valve/Injector
- Fuel formulation and geometry
- Nozzle
- Structure
- Performance

Results:
All objectives completed. Performed targeted 50 second hot fire as planned. Duration of burn chosen to allow examination of internal geometry.

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  • Coastal Ron

    Firing their motor is encouraging. Can’t wait until they fire it in the air.

  • warshawski

    Target of 50 seconds is short of availabile information on full duration burn of 70 seconds. They still have a long way to go if they are not confident of full duration performance. More time will be required and it will be a race between XCOR and SpaceX to see who gets people up first.

  • Jason

    XCOR and SpaceX are not competing in any markets.

  • Greg Holden

    Surely XCOR are competing against VG in the suborbital market? I would say SpaceX are competing in the Orbital market. I see these two as completely seperate (for the time being.)

  • dr

    The last three test firings have been for 45, 40 and now 50 seconds.
    It seems to me that these are diagnostic firings to identify a problem, that would have been initially discovered four firings ago on 29th Nov 2011 when they did a 10 second firing followed by a 58 second firing.
    If this is the case and I may well be wrong, then I would agree with @warshawski that VG have a long way to go to get an engine that they are confident with.
    The other potential problem that concerns me, is what happens if VG manage to make an engine that burns cleanly enough, but then can’t get the per unit cost of production down to a level that is acceptable?

    XCOR are the obvious competitor for VG, but it is worth noting that Armadillo and Blue Origin are also trying to create sub-orbital vehicles to carry people.

  • Jason

    Meant that they’re not competing *against each other* in any markets. ;)

    Go XCOR!

  • jazzfiend

    Doug speaking of XCOR would it be possible to get some photos of the Lynx being built? Is XCOR allowing anyone inside the hanger to see how they are progressing?

  • Warshawski

    SpaceX is in going for orbital manned flight and at this stage is not in the tourist market but are going for comercial space passenger service. It is a race of historical interest only as far as my comment on SpaceX getting people in orbit. The race between VG and XCOR will have significant comercial implications. Especially as the XCOR engine is designed for re-usability and low cost operation.
    Though Sierra Nevada Dream Chaser may compete on the Sub-orbital market if they are not selected for comercial crew. They are conducting captive carry tests and have a rocket motor that works. I wonder if it has enough power for boost from captive carry to suborbital? I wonder if the potential competition is one reason they are no longer using WK2 for captive carry and glide tests.

  • http://www.parabolicarc.com Doug Messier

    Jazzfiend:

    That’s a negative. I don’t expect to see any photos of the Lynx until they roll it out later this year.

  • Marcus Zottl

    Since Warshawski has brought the DreamChaser up, there is something I have been wondering for a long time now: The DreamChaser project began at SpaceDev like the RM2 and just like SS2, it will also use a hybrid propulsion system. If SpaceDev (now part of SNC) can’t work out the RM2 issues, how will that impact the DreamChaser propulsion development? Warshawski said that they have a “motor that works”, but if this is true, then what’s the problem with the RM2? Is the RM2 a lot larger/more powerful than the DreamChaser motors?

    The current DreamChaser CGI shows 2 nozzles (the old suborbital DreamChaser animations showed a lot more, like 8 or so…) and I guess those Motors are used for launch abort, orbit phasing maneuvers and deorbit burns, right? Isn’t such a system a lot harder to get working than the RM2, that just has to make one single burn?

    So many questions…

  • http://www.parabolicarc.com Doug Messier

    My understandings is the Dream Chaser hybrid is smaller than the WK2 version because it is meant for orbital maneuvering. Beyond that, I don’t know specifics.