Key Test For Skylon Spaceplane Engine Technology 92
Ogi_UnixNut writes "The Skylon spaceplane is an ambitious project to develop a single-stage-to-orbit craft that can take off and land like a normal airplane. Part of this project requires an engine that can work both as a rocket engine and a normal air-breathing engine (a hybrid approach, essentially). This would reduce the amount of oxidizer required to send stuff into space, and thus greatly reduce the cost. Now, some key experimental parts of the engine have been built, and are to be tested in public at the Farnborough Air Show in the UK in July. The BBC has video of the cooling system being tested."
Re:I thought that was not the hard part.... (Score:5, Funny)
it's the coming home part that is the problem.
Capt. Malcolm Reynolds: Just get us on the ground!
Hoban 'Wash' Washburn: That part'll happen pretty definitely.
Re:Where's the warp drive? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Reaction Engines Ltd, SABRE Engine (Score:4, Funny)
No word on what they'd use for thermal protection on re-entry
IOn the website it currently suggests the will use excess hydrogen to cool to the surfaces and dump in over board.
They hydrogen will at that point become superheated and immediately react with any oxygen in the rather thin air up there... At least this is what I hope would happen, because it would look awesome on re-entry.
So, what is your heat shield made of?
Fire.