space plane!

[yellowdingo]

looks like we might be able to fly to the iss from an airport come 2020

[MagusJanus]

Quote:

combined cycle air-breathing rocket engine

Quote:

fly directly into Earth orbit

I admit the above makes me skeptical. I am curious to see how this project ends up. If they can pull it off, that would be amazing and would potentially mean a revolution in how we deal with technology in orbit.

[yellowdingo]

MagusJanus wrote:

Quote:

combined cycle air-breathing rocket engine

Quote:

fly directly into Earth orbit

I admit the above makes me skeptical. I am curious to see how this project ends up. If they can pull it off, that would be amazing and would potentially mean a revolution in how we deal with technology in orbit.

If they can dock with the iss it will be a leap forward.

Space. The final frontier. These are the voyages of Bob, a particularly overweight accountant who took a trip to the international Space Station along with a bunch of other weirdos with more money than sense, flying from his local airport. Only in zero-g did he realize the cue for the only toilet was far to long...

[Krensky]

The basics of the tech have been around and working since the fifties, the problem has been the weight. If they've really got the intercooler the describe there's no reason it won't work.

Also, dingo:

A cue is a signal.
A queue is a line.

[yellowdingo]

Krensky wrote:

The basics of the tech have been around and working since the fifties, the problem has been the weight. If they've really got the intercooler the describe there's no reason it won't work.

Also, dingo:

A cue is a signal.
A queue is a line.

I know...just horribly embarassed for not getting the spelling right first time yet ironically it could be talking about the light above his seat telling him its his turn to use the toilet.

[Vod Canockers]

Quote:

SABRE that will enable aircraft to operate easily at speeds of up to five times the speed of sound or fly directly into Earth orbit.

speed of sound 340.3 m/sec

5 times speed of sound 1700 m/sec

Escape Velocity 11.2 km/sec

[Krensky]

Mach 5.14 is the designed cut off the air breathing mode for a SABRE due. Then it switches to rocket mode using tanked LOX and can make a LEO insertion.

SABRE (Rocket Engine)

Like I said, the principle's sound and has been worked on since the 1950s. The sticking points were always material science and the efficiency of the precooler and heat exchangers. If Reaction Engines has cracked those, which the ESA says they have, there's no reason to think it won't work.