The Lynx Mark I manned suborbital spacecraft under construction at XCOR Aerospace in Mojave, Calif. Photo: Mike Massee / XCOR

[Via Satellite 05-11-2015] XCOR Aerospace has bonded the XCOR Lynx Mark I strakes to the Lynx spacecraft fuselage. Lynx is a piloted, two-seat, fully reusable liquid rocket-powered vehicle that takes-off and lands horizontally.

With the strakes bonded to Lynx, “we have an open path toward the integration of a number of subsystems, and this means we will now start electrical wiring, plumbing, installing the control system, and populating the landing gear bays,” said XCOR’s Chief Technology Officer Jeff Greason.

The strakes make up a large portion of the Lynx aerodynamic shell. Each strake is partitioned into four independent fuel tanks that are pressurized during flight and supply kerosene to the Lynx engines. Each strake also houses a main landing gear assembly and two reaction control thrusters that the Lynx will use to make attitude adjustments while outside of the atmosphere.

The Lynx-family of vehicles serves three primary missions depending on their specific type including: research and scientific missions, private spaceflight, and micro satellite launch (only on Lynx Mark III). Lynx production models (designated Lynx Mark II) are designed to be multi-mission commercial vehicles capable of flying to more than 100 km in altitude up to four times per day.