RedDwarfIV wrote:Today I discovered Bristol Spaceplanes Ltd. They are working on updated 1960s spaceplane design concepts, using existing aerospace technologies. A two-man SSTO of theirs called Ascender could be operational before Skylon.
A few years after that, they hope to have SpaceCab running, a 6-passenger craft intended for taking small satellites to orbit or crews to the ISS.
And a few years after that, they hope to have a prototype for SpaceBus, a 50-passenger tourist carrier capable of hauling medium satellites to orbit.
I assume that what lets those two larger craft reach orbit when SpaceShipOne/Two can't, is that their carrier aircraft are also spaceplanes, capable of suborbital hops with their rocket engines.
Skylon has been debated on these forums before, and the discussion got quite "heated", with opinions ranging from it being junk to the best thing since sliced bread...RedDwarfIV wrote:I'm sad that we just glanced over Skylon with a few links. Has everything about it already been said on those sites or something?
Skylon would look awesome with a cockpit at the front, though obviously that space is needed for propellant and fuel. It will be rated capable of carrying people though, which is great.
Ascender is not a SSTO vehicle, it is actually a sub-orbital vehicle aimed at space tourism for a single passenger, albeit it's hoping to do that in a single stage. To compare it to Skylon which is a far, far more ambitious project would be wholly inappropriate. In other news reaction engines (skylon) just signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with the US air force a few months back. As it has been gaining a lot of investment interest recently.
The technical challenges of a sub orbital hop are slightly underplayed to be fair in the articles I have found, as single stage to sub orbit has never been achieved, so I think claiming that the technology is already proven is a bit of a stretch. Especially considering that us engineers are more than aware that new yet undiscovered problems have an unhelpful way of appearing at inappropriate times...
It all looks quite heavily geared to capturing the space tourist industry which is quite interesting, It's worth watching but I wouldn't get too excited.