It looks to me like Lynx is dead. It will be interesting to see who, if anyone, from the company shows up at the suborbital researchers conference in Colorado next week. Fortunately for those laid off, I think that a number of commercial space companies are hiring, including in Texas.
[Update a while later]
I would note that apparently Midland has joined the ranks of spaceports with no spaceships.
“On hold” is probably a better representation of what the article actually said – “suspended” – than “dead.”
They’re short of cash and concentrating on immediate revenue projects, yes. They’d have to be nuts (IMHO) to actually kill Lynx as opposed to putting it on hold till they get some more funding.
It’s not beyond resurrection, but I think it’s entirely possible now, and perhaps likely, that it will never fly. They would have to reassemble a team that could make it happen, and we don’t really know what the real delaying technical issues may have been beyond money.
My take is, the chief delaying issue is the TONS of nitpicking detailed systems engineering & integration involved in turning a closed aerodynamic design plus a won’t-quite-fit-yet innovative propulsion system into a functioning rocket-plane.
And, frankly, top nitpicking-detailed systems engineering & integration talent is less rare than the genius that went into producing that aerodynamic design and propulsion system in the first place.
Cannot say this was unexpected to me. Too many problems on a vehicle like this and not a lot of money. It is also seldom a good sign when the founders exit a company. Or even get moved around from heading the company.
Two thoughts: Jeff, Dan, Doug & Co did an amazing job getting the project this far on the relative pittance they’ve spent. Some tens of millions thus far, to achieve progress at least one visiting major-aerospace team was heard to say would have cost them one to two billion.
And two, surprisingly often a company’s founders stepping aside is necessary. For every tech startup where the founders are tech AND organizational geniuses (hi, Elon!) there are dozens where the founders are tech geniuses but more or less average managers. Getting past the point where the founders’ management skills are holding things back is a widely-recognized tech startup milestone. Sometimes it’s a smooth transition, sometimes, regretfully, it gets a bit messy.
I heard this was coming a couple weeks ago. My opinion now is the same as it was then. The Dutch investor group that now controls the company got involved because they wanted to fly the Lynx. I have no reason to believe that’s changed, even if they have to take a detour. Whether they’re successful, of course, remains to be seen.
As the earliest customer for the Lynx (and one of the largest), I won’t pretend I’m not disappointed. But I learned long ago that when you’re on a bucking horse, all you can do is sit back and ride. It doesn’t do any good to think about hitting the ground.
I could be wrong, but my opinion is that the Dutch investor group that took over the company ran it into the ground, inadvertently or otherwise.
Well, I’m pretty sure they didn’t do it advertently. Beyond that, I can’t really say.
Disagree on the fundamental point – the company has lost altitude but it has not been “run into the ground” – and on the Dutch investor group. My take is they pushed for necessary organizational evolution, and got it, but unfortunately in a somewhat delayed and untidy manner, one consequence of which is the current retrenchment.
It’s a bummer, though. XCOR was the last of the Class of ’90s entrepreneurial space launch companies. I thought Jeff would pull it off. I feel his pain, believe me.
Yeah, seems like the idea of small start up’s building spacecraft was a bridge too far. The only ones who have made it work are the ones back by billionaires, thse that had to raise money elsewhere have all folded. Shame.
XCOR has not folded. Retrenched, yes – not for the first time either. It came back before, from worse positions, at least twice that I know of. With ULA paying for upper-stage engine development work, it would seem to have a pretty secure foundation at this point.
Looks like Paul Breed has a free dinner coming his way, courtesy of Henry Vanderbilt.
Paul’s odds have gone up, but it isn’t the end of 2017 yet. I’m a good manager, I had some slack in the original schedule