XPrize runner: A solid rocket engine - Rubicon 2!
Oct 22, 2004 22: 25 EST
Published Oct 15, 2004 09: 01 EST
STC was working against the clock to develop a rocket designed to win the X Prize: the Rubicon Suborbital Tourism Vehicle.
One of the most serious competitors to Scale Composites, the team at Space Transport Corporation continues their project is spite of the 10 million lost.
Their Suborbital Tourism Vehicle is almost ready to fly; “we are now targeting the 24th of October for the Rubicon 2 launch.”
The strongest bet on STC projects are the solid-propellant engines – instead of liquid fuel - in their spacecrafts. “No other X-Prize teams have vehicles that use only solid-propellant rocket engines. Typically, solid rocket engines would not be considered when designing a 'reusable' vehicle as required to win the prize."
“Reusability” usually conjures images of an airplane-style landing and refilling the liquid fuel tank. STC believes that reloading solid rocket engines is a fairly simple process when weighed against the daunting task of designing, developing and producing reliable liquid-propellant rocket engines. STC sees a major advantage in the mechanical simplicity of solid rocket engines.
But there are also two other two projects, the Three-Stage Rocket, a suborbital launch vehicle for 2-pound payloads; and the Nano-Satellite Orbital Launch Vehicle, an orbital launch vehicle for payloads around 10 kilograms. “We plan a three-stage rocket launch on or around the 14th from our development launch site near Forks. As part of the 2-pound payload, the 100-kilometer launch will feature a camera capable of live video feed.”
Space Transport Corporation (STC) was founded by Eric Meier and Phillip Storm in August, 2002 with the goal of commercializing space.
Phillip Storm is the President of STC. He attended the University of Michigan where he received a BS in Mathematics in 2000. For a two-year period, he engineered rockets with the Aerojet Corporation in Redmond, Washington. Phil began designing solid rockets in an amateur capacity in the mid 1990’s.
Eric Meier is the Vice-President of STC. He attended the University of Utah and received a BS in Mechanical Engineering in 2000. In the summer of 1998, he worked with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA, in the Advanced Propulsion Technology Group. For a two-year period, he engineered rockets with the Aerojet Corporation in Redmond, Washington.
STC is financed by private sale of common stock and by corporate sponsorships. As they proudly state, “ For STC, the sky is not the limit.”
Image of the founders in front of the “first version” Rubicon 1, courtesy of Space Tansport Corp.
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