I still wonder how the rocket portion will operate on liquified air, instead of lox. It’s going to need to produce a whole lot more of it than it would need lox. It takes a lot of energy to compress that air just to get the 21% oxygen.
The air breathing SABRE multi mode rocket engine has been cleared to start building a test article http://m.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Engineering_Technology/ESA_green_light_for_UK_s_air-breathing_rocket_engine …
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It doesn't liquify the air, unless that's changed, but they do need to compress it to 140 atmospheres.
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It's finally happening. This means it'll only be another 20 years before they test it...
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Such seems to usually be the situation, yet let's hope that
@SpaceX has lit a fire under everyone's gluteus maximus to get moving.
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I wish them nothing but success, but it seems like 10 million Euro and 50 million pounds is about enough development money for some PowerPoint slides and maybe a slick 3D animation.
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Nah SpaceX developed the Falxon 1 with just 50ish Million or so (in the first year) And its "just" an engine and not a whole rocket
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No, ESA is seperated from the EU.
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Even if Skylon never happens, SABRE will be great - when it's ready. Replacing strap-on boosters (or maybe the entire first stage) with SABRE-based engines would be a HUGE benefit, and make the payload penalty for reusability that much lower.
Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
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Could the SABRE cut down intercontinental passenger travel continental time by like a factor of ten? I can't help but imagine a suborbital flight path would be crazy fast- baring $$$
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I would Google what any of this means but I don’t have two weeks to do so.
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