Reaction Engines To Fly Reusable Spaceplane

RobGoldsmith writes "Reaction Engines have designed a 'reusable spaceplane' to provide inexpensive and reliable access to space. The Star Wars-looking 'Skylon' reusable spaceplane has already been designed and the team are well into engine testing. They have taken some time out from building spaceships to talk about their background, their goals, and their recent engine tests. This article shows new images of their STERN Engine, an experimental rocket motor which explores the flow in Expansion Deflection (ED) nozzles. They also discuss their Sabre air-breathing engine technology. View the Skylon Spaceplane concept, the STERN Engine and much more in this in-depth interview with the team."

Comments

Re:Space Elevator

[barc0001]

You know, the day Sputnik went up hardly anyone was thinking about a commercial use for space, and now look at us. Space has definitely become a "build it and they will come" scenario. If you make payload lifting even cheaper, there will be more customers because things that didn't make sense before suddenly start to.

The Internet

[mcrbids]

How many "2.0" Internet businesses exist only because of the unexpected consequences of humanity building the largest peer based computer network in existence?

Slashdot itself, and other newcomers like Netflix "on demand" only exist because of the Internet. Did we build the Internet so that we could stream "Superman" in real time, or argue politics with people from around the world?

No. but they all happened because we built the Internet!

So build it! Society will profit in ways we can't today imagine today any more than Bob Metcalfe imagined Slashdot when he co-invented Ethernet!