[ExI] Skylon- a plane that can fly anywhere in under four hours!

[Keith Henson]

On Wed, Dec 17, 2014 at 4:00 AM,  John Grigg
<possiblepaths2050 at gmail.com> wrote:

> "This craft is powered by a new kind of engine, known as a SABRE engine.
> REL asserts that this engine will be capable of operating as a jet engine
> and a rocket engine. Amazingly, it will have the ability to power an
> aircraft at up to five times the speed of sound within the atmosphere, or
> it could send a craft directly into Earth orbit at twenty-five times the
> speed of sound."
>
> This was developed by the British, and amazingly, not the United States,
> despite our huge defense budget...   ;   )

I visited Reaction Engines when they were in the middle of testing the
precooler two years ago.

It's a very slick combustion cycle that recovers much of the energy
that goes into liquifying hydrogen.

They have serious funding to produce the engine, some of it from the
UK government.

Keith