XCOR logs 2000th engine run

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Mike Massee
XCOR Aerospace
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Press Release

XCOR logs 2,000th engine run

13,482 seconds cumulative run time

The XCOR XR4K5 LOX-kerosene engine

December 04, 2003: XCOR Aerospace passed a significant milestone recently when it logged its 2,000th rocket engine firing. This is the total of the five types of engines the company has designed and built in-house. Cumulative run time is 224.7 minutes, or 13,482 seconds as rocket scientists like to measure run time. Igniter-only operations are not counted in this tally; just engine runs with both igniter and main stage components. About 2600 additional igniter tests have been performed in development, life testing, and preflight checkouts.

In all these 2,000 runs, XCOR has yet to experience an engine explosion or hard start. While we are optimistic that we have designed out the causes of engine explosions, we never run without a blast shield surrounding the engine.

You can always view an up-to-date breakdown of the current engine run time statistics on our engine page at http://www.xcor.com/engines.html. As of this announcement, the engine run times are as follows:

- Historical Engine statistics - (here for current)
as of Thursday, December 04, 2003:

The XCOR type XR4A3 400 lbf regen-cooled LOX-alcohol engines have run:

Engine	Runs	Time (secs)	Time (Minutes)
Engine 1	191	2387	39.8 minutes
Engine 2	64	801	13.4 minutes
Engine 3	170	2240	37.3 minutes
Engine 4	133	1006	16.8 minutes
Total	558	6434	107.2 minutes

The XCOR type XR3A2 160 lbf LOX-alcohol engine has run:

Runs	Time (secs)	Time (Minutes)
61	124	2.1 minutes

The XCOR type XR3B4 50 lbf regen cooled N2O-alcohol engine has run:

Runs	Time (secs)	Time (Minutes)
216	812	13.5 minutes

The XCOR type XR2P1 15 lbf N2O-ethane engine (the "Tea Cart" engine) has run:

Runs	Time (secs)	Time (Minutes)
1163	6099	101.7 minutes

(includes operation on nitrous oxide and gaseous oxygen oxidizers with propane, ethane, alcohol, and kerosene fuels)

The XCOR type XR4K5 1800 lbf LOX-Kerosene engine has run:

Runs	Time (secs)	Time (Minutes)
11	13	0.2 minutes

GRAND TOTAL

Runs

Time (secs)

Time (Minutes)

2,009

13482

224.7 minutes

XCOR Aerospace is a California corporation located in Mojave, California. The company is in the business of developing and producing safe, reliable and reusable rocket-powered vehicles and propulsion systems that enable affordable access to space.

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