XCOR SUCCESSFUL IN FIRING OF THRUST ROCKET ENGINE PROGRAM AIDS DEVELOPMENT OF MANNED SPACECRAFT.Byline: JIM Jim Miss Watson’s runaway slave; Huck’s traveling companion. [Am. Lit.: Huckleberry Finn] See : Escape SKEEN Staff Writer MOJAVE -- XCOR Aerospace announced Tuesday the successful first firings of a 7,500-pound thrust rocket engine, under a program to aid the development of NASA's next manned spacecraft. The company, based at the Mojave Airport, has conducted six short-duration tests of a liquid methane rocket engine. The tests were conducted as part of a $3.3 million subcontract XCOR XCOR Cross-Correlation has with Alliant Techsystems. ``This was a great first firing,'' said XCOR CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. Jeff Greason. ``Everything worked incredibly well. The crew put in long days and nights to get the engine and new test stand ready for today, and the results were outstanding. I could not have expected it to come out any better.'' The engine at this point does not have a cooling system, which will be developed later, so firings are of a very short duration. Test firings have ranged from seven-tens of a second to 1.2 seconds, said XCOR spokeswoman Aleta Jackson. About a dozen more tests of the engine are planned, Jackson said. Under its contract with Alliant, XCOR is developing what it calls a workhorse version of the rocket engine that will serve as the basis for a refined, lighter, flight-ready engine for NASA's Crew Exploration Vehicle
The Crew Exploration Vehicle (or CEV) was the conceptual component of the Vision for Space Exploration that later became known as the Orion spacecraft. . The flight engine could be used to power the CEV in space and could be used for a lunar landing vehicle. NASA NASA: see National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA in full National Aeronautics and Space Administration Independent U.S. studies favored liquid-oxygen/methane propulsion for the new spacecraft because it eliminates the need for special ground-handling procedures associated with traditional -- and dangerous -- nitrogen tetroxide te·trox·ide n. A chemical compound containing four oxygen atoms per molecule. Noun 1. tetroxide - an oxide containing four atoms of oxygen in the molecule oxide - any compound of oxygen with another element or a radical and monomethyl hydrazine hydrazine (hī`drəzēn'), chemical compound, formula NH2NH2, m.p. 1.4°C;, b.p. 113.5°C;, specific gravity 1.011 at 15°C;. It is very soluble in water and soluble in alcohol. propulsion systems. The XCOR engine, designated 5M15, is being used to characterize engine performance. The results will be used to determine the appropriate length of the rocket engine chamber for the flight-weight version. Since its inception in 1999, Mojave-based XCOR has designed, built and tested several different rocket engines, including a 50-pound thrust liquid-oxygen/methane engine and an 1,800-pound thrust liquid oxygen/hydrocarbon engine. james.skeen@dailynews (661) 267-5743 |
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