Liquid fuel rockets are simple in concept.  You light the propellants, which blast out one end and provide the thrust you need.  In practice, however, liquid fuel engines are quite a bit more complex, and one of the keys to successful and safe space flight is how you get liquid oxygen and fuel into the engine.  XCOR solves the problem with proprietary and highly unique piston pumps.

"Most of the complications arise from getting the fuel to the rocket engine," says XCOR's chief engineer Dan DeLong.  "How you solve that problem determines how well your rocket propulsion system will work."
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Talking to an audience of space enthusiasts, entrepreneurs and government officials at the 2009 Space Access conference in Phoenix, Arizona, our CEO Jeff Greason emphasized that down-to-Earth economics matter, even if your ultimate goal is to get to outer space.
 
"I'm an ex-Intel guy, and we knew that in emerging technology markets, you need margins of 50-60 percent early in the product sales cycle," Greason said, referring to his work in developing the technology used on Intel's successful Pentium line of computer chips.  "You need to have that kind of revenue potential to compensate investors for the high risk they are assuming."
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XCOR's general sales agent, RocketShip Tours  is continuing to attract media attention as it works to build its global sales agent network.  Founder Jules Klar was widely quoted when we jointly announced that the price of commercial suborbital space flights has dropped by over fifty percent.  He compared the $95,000 price of a flight in the Lynx with the $200,000 tickets for a ride in the back of our primary competitor's vehicle.

XCOR's lower ticket price is just one of several competitive advantages Klar believes he enjoys in the space tourism industry.  "The real name of the game is 'The Experience'," the veteran travel entrepreneur says.  "Every single person who buys a ticket on the Lynx sits in the co-pilot's seat with a panoramic view out of a fighter-style cockpit.  He or she is one-on-one with the astronaut pilot.  In the competitor's craft, you are one of five or six in the back of the plane, and you have to peer out of a porthole."
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