Ken Brown captured these spectacular photos of a hybrid engine test at the Mojave Air and Space Port on Thursday afternoon. Scaled Composites conducted the hot fire of the nylon-nitrous oxide engine, which is being tested as an alternative to the rubber-nitrous oxide that Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo has used for three test flights, sources say.
Scaled is developing SpaceShipTwo and WhiteKnightTwo for Sir Richard Branson’s spaceline, which is supposed to begin commercial operations from Spaceport America in New Mexico by the end of the year.
The test today lasted longer than 30 seconds. View a video that captured most of the hot fire.
Scaled has been conducting tests on the nylon-nitrous engine since at least last May, according to sources.