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British Spaceplane Skylon Could Revolutionize Space Travel (ieee.org)

Posted by samzenpus on from the to-the-stars dept.

MarkWhittington writes: The problem of lowering the cost of sending people and cargo into low Earth orbit has vexed engineers since the dawn of the space age. Currently, the only way to go into space is on top of multistage rockets which toss off pieces of themselves as they ascend higher into the heavens. The Conversation touted a British project, called Skylon, which many believe will help to address the problem of costly space travel. According to IEEE Spectrum, both BAE Systems and the British government have infused Skylon with $120 million in investment.

3 of 226 comments (clear)

  1. Re:When I see "could" in a headline ... by turkeydance · · Score: 4, Funny

    "could" and "might" and "?" are standards in the click-bait tackle box.

  2. Re:So where's their spaceplane? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    SpaceX started in 2002; Reaction Engines Ltd started in 1989; SpaceX reached the ISS in 1012. Looks like Reaction Engines Ltd is 21 years behind

    You're forgetting that in 2024 Reaction Engines will steal SpaceX's time machine and use it to reach the ISS in 997 AD, beating SpaceX by 15 years. That will have, of course, triggered the time race between the two companies, which will have resulted in both going further and further back in time until they accidentally cause a mass extinction on Earth 66 million years ago.

  3. Re:Stupid article by Panoptes · · Score: 3, Funny

    "They have a plan"

    Even better - they have a cunning plan.