Spaceplane Concept Receives Euro Funding

draevil writes "BBC News reports that the novel "Skylon" spaceplane design of British firm Reaction Engines has received funding to proceed with its proof-of-concept design for an air-breathing rocket engine. If successful, the Sabre rocket engine will be able to take the Skylon with 12 tonnes of cargo from a runway, to orbit and then back to that runway without the need for disposable components or a piggy-back ride on a larger aircraft. Should the design prove viable, it could see first use within ten years."

Comments

Re:This is REALLY, REALLY stupid.

[Jane Q. Public]

First, it is not "MY" definition. It is the dictionary definition. Second, routing or compressing air around the engine to use the Bernoulli effect for extra thrust has no bearing on the matter, since air is still not being used for combustion (in a rocket). That *is* what divides rockets and jets.

To put it a different way: the difference between a rocket and a jet (by dictionary definition) is whether the engine uses an internal oxidizer (LOX, hydrogen peroxide, hydrazine), or external oxidizer (air). It matters not one whit to the definition whether it augments its thrust in other ways.

If you really want to "muddy the waters", one definition of "jet" is any moving stream of fluid. But let's face it... that's really not relevant to this discussion. We are discussing the difference between a rocket engine and a jet engine.