Research Institute Signs on With XCOR for Suborbital Flights

The Southwest Research Institute will use the Lynx space vehicle to carry biomedical, microgravity, and astronomy imaging experiments into suborbital altitudes. The Lynx is developed and built by XCOR Aerospace in Mojave. The institute has purchased six flights on the Lynx and has the option of buying three more flights. “When someone issues a commercial contract with their own money, this means something,” said Andrew Nelson, chief operating officer at XCOR. The Lynx is capable of making four suborbital flights a day and has payload bays within the pressurized cabin and exposed to the vacuum of space and thin air of the upper atmosphere. Mark R. Madler