SXC: Easy access to space / ALV

When:

9 March 2013

10:00 Hour - 12:45 Hour

Event organizer:History of Engineering

Description

Space Expedition Corporation (SXC) has been pioneering commercial spaceflight since 2008. From the second half of 2014, as "launching customer" of the XCOR Lynx rocket plane, it will make multiple daily flights with passengers and/or scientific payloads to an altitude of 100 kilometres (thus crossing the boundary of Outer Space). This without using classic rocket technology where the launchers are literally and figuratively thrown away after one time.

The revolutionary propulsion technology at the heart of the XCOR Lynx design involves a rocket engine that can be switched on and off just like a car engine. And that many thousands of times. The rocket plane designed on this principle can therefore also be used thousands of times.
This reusability alone is a dominant feature of sustainability and symbolises a revolution in space travel. This development enables daily easy and affordable access to space. It will take the already indispensable use of space for our planet's prosperity and well-being into a new promising phase.

SXC is a company of Dutch origin that is becoming increasingly international. It discovered the innovation of this revolutionary US technology at an early stage and based its business plan on it. Currently, SXC is one of two providers of this type of commercial space flight in the world. The fact that SXC already has more than 200 booked and paid flights in its portfolio indicates that SXC recognises the spirit of the current times and has anticipated success

10.00 am Room open
10.15 - 10.50 am Prior to the lecture: KIVI NIRIA General Members' Meeting History of Technology in the Faculty Room of the Science Centre

11.00 am Lecture "SXC: Easy access to space" by ltgen. b.d. B. Droste
11.45 am Break
12.15 pm Continuation of the lecture with a concluding discussion
12.45 pm End of meeting

Speaker(s)

Ben Droste's (1944) career is dominated by aviation and later by space as well. Firstly by his 38 year service in the Royal Netherlands Air Force as fighter pilot with 4000 hrs in his logbook and through a multitude of leadership functions. He retired in March 2000 as Lieutenant General and Commander in Chief. His follow-on appointment as Chairman of the Netherlands Agency for Aerospace Programmes (NIVR) widened his experience from aeronautics to space-related matters. This experience was further enhanced by his simultaneous tenure for four years as Dean of the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering of the Delft University of Technology.