XCOR Aims To Be Leader In Suborbital Spaceflight Market

XCOR Aerospace will announce this week its general sales agent and prices for tickets on its Lynx 2-passenger spacecraft (TR, BR), becoming only the second NewSpace provider behind Virgin Galactic to accept reservations and deposits for commercial suborbital spaceflights. XCOR officials say the price will be "substantially lower" than competitors have quoted, with service for human passengers as well as scientific payloads expected to begin in 2010. Virgin Galactic is currently accepting US$20,000 deposits for $200,000 flights aboard its SpaceShipTwo (BL), which will carry 6 passengers plus 2 pilots into suborbit, also expected in 2010. The announcement will take place on Dec 2 in Beverly Hills CA. XCOR CEO Jeff Greason (L) and COO Andrew Nelson (C) will attend the event, as well as test pilot and former astronaut Rick Searfoss, Orbital Outfitters founder and chief designer Chris Gilman (R), and an unnamed European adventurer who plans to be the first from his country to make a suborbital spaceflight. Orbital Outfitters will provide the special spacesuits (TL) all Lynx pilots and passengers will wear. While XCOR and Virgin Galactic are the first NewSpace players to have actual spaceflights within sight, several other companies are also progressing toward joining the industry, including SpaceDev, RocketPlane Global and Blue Origin. Others, such as SpaceX and Bigelow Aerospace, are focusing their efforts directly toward orbital tourism. (Credit: XCOR, VG)

From Dec 1-3, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) will be hosting the '6th Canadian Space Exploration Workshop' at the John H. Chapman Space Center in Longueuil, Quebec. The theme of the workshop is 'Canadian Scientific Priorities for the Global Exploration Strategy.' Scientists, researchers and students from the various fields in space exploration will meet to discuss how CSA's scientific goals can be integrated into the Global Exploration Strategy (GES). Representatives of 14 space agencies developed the GES Framework for Coordination in 2006 to help accomplish goals set out in NASA's Vision for Space Exploration. Countries represented include: Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Russia, UK, South Korea, Ukraine, and USA. The GES presents a vision for robotic and human exploration of destinations in the solar system where humans may one day live and work. It also promotes an action plan to share efforts of individual nations so that all can achieve their exploration goals more effectively. At this week's workshop, plans for research in such areas as planetary exploration, space astronomy, space life sciences, and operational space medicine will be explored with the goal of creating a document describing Canadian scientific priorities relevant to GES. (Credit: CSA, ESA, NASA)