Briefs: XCOR engines; Orbital Outfitters spacsuits; JP Aerospace review

An article about the recent XCOR engine announcements: New rocket engine under development - AV Press - Dec.18.07.
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An article with some additional info and pictures about Orbital Outfitters and the firm's spacesuits: Spacesuits for You and Me - TFOT - Dec.18.07 (via Colony Worlds).
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John Powell reviews progress in near space for JP Aerospace in the past year: Evaluating 2007 - JP Aerospace Blog - Dec.18.07/

Posted 12/18/07 | 22:39:50 by TopSpacer | Filed under: NewSpace

Comments

The XCOR guys are good on the press, but
awful shy on the details.

They did an engine, great. Cool.

Will they announce, sea Level Isp, System weights,
operating pressures, and the other details?

Posted by anonymous at 12/18/07 23:06:06

Why are the legs on those spacesuits unpressurized? Neither suit appears to have a mechanism for bending the legs or elbows.

It sounds like they want to put the pressure vessel inside the insulation, shielding, and temperature and humidity control layers, so that those layers can all get out of the way of the joints. That might explain the look of the legs and elbows, but then begs the question of how they managed small constant volume joints.

Posted by Iain McClatchie at 12/18/07 23:46:37

The point is that the suit does not require CV joints as there is no air pressure inside the suit. The suit applies pressure directly to the skin like a tight divers wet suit.
If there is a tear in the suit the skin can be exposed to vacuum, but that's not a problem. The body can stand that. The astronaut is not endangered.
The only air pressurised part is the helmet which provides air pressure over the face for breathing and protects the eyes and ears.

Posted by frediiiie at 12/19/07 00:43:39

Correction the above refers to the biosuit rather than the "Orbital Outfitters" suit which is sub-orbital.

Posted by Frediiiie at 12/19/07 01:06:48

Re: anonymous

If you pay them to build an engine, I am sure they will be happy to provide you with this data :-)

Posted by anonymous at 12/19/07 06:50:01

Read Dan DeLong's comment here for slightly more information on the 7.5k XCOR methane engine.

http://www.hobbyspace.com/n...

Posted by Jim at 12/19/07 07:33:27

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