SKYLON Spaceplane Passenger Logistics Module Movie

[1Nekit1]

Ares-1

[dgreatunknown]

SR-71 "Blackbird"

[meteor4163]

I remember saying in 2008 that reaching LEO from a runway would be around 4 times cheaper than with a vertical lift off. So my guess was right!

[n00baday]

Can it really "glide" trough the air like that? Doesn't look like it has much wing span for that. It prob can, but you wouldn't say from the looks of it.

[PlaneAU]

It can do 70 trips a year at the price of only 2 space shuttle launches and carry more than the space shuttle on each flight.

[natelee42069]

i agree how can you see a black space plain if your another black space plain space is black that just make things harder to see that be better for army or something we should be silver or white

[Risenangelicaegis]

hope they get it operational soon :-)

[Membrane556]

Skylon uses hydrogen because the design makes use of the cryogenic temperatures of the fuel to cool the incoming air when in air breathing mode.

After mach 5 switches to a pure rocket mode vs having any scarmjet or ramjet modes.

It also reserves some of the hydrogen as a coolent for reentry.

Other fuels may not work with this concept.

[lastjedi66]

Aaah... Not only is the video great, but the comments are a refreshing break from the myriad of trolling and bad attitudes found elsewhere on this site. (Said in same voice as video's narrator) Obviously, this sort of video attracts a higher class of viewers. :P

[Armigo91]

of people look the other way. That basically states, that we have no common goal. Spaceflight is a perfect goal.

[Armigo91]

People persuit their wallet, their well being, their ego and nothing really interesting that makes us help realize spaceflight beyond sending washing machines in space.

We aint even there yet,

I am, you are, many watching this video are. But we represent a promilage of living people that see the need of spacetravel.

Talking about it with the other 99.99% is talking to a reinforced wall.

Those are the people that vote in our democracy. One subject of people turns us one way, the other subject

[Armigo91]

In fact, you might wonder, why dont we have methane rockets yet, and such spaceplane designs as skylon.

Obama = main reason, but his reasoning seems acceptable.

We have economic problems on earth,

So its pretty naive to think one nation should commit itself to spacetravel at the cost of the people on earth.

The technology, is what we have.

The people with education, the high tech industry development and everything involved on bringing us the prototypes are absent in most devleoped countries

[Armigo91]

for spaceplane designs, methane propellant will be a must. In atmospheric flight, temperatures itself can ignite methane/lox propellant. Exspecially in a scram design, which i know is future talk as we cant even handle hydrogen energy exhaust at scram speeds that damage engines at a record of mach 10 so far.

But once we find the right screwdriver to make those technologies all in one box we will have a very different way, and a more routine way on spacetravel.

Until that day, lets hope.

[Armigo91]

We can rely on methane rockets up to altitudes of 60km. Methane needs less cryogenic fuel since it keeps liquid at lower temperatures compared to hydrogen.

Methane also supplies more energy as it burns compared to hydrogen. Meaning you need both less oxygen, and less methane as its replaced for hydrogen.

Which would make the tanks of the skylon either smaller, or allows larger garco. For the same or lower cost. Methane is ought to be unreliable. Which it is for deep space flight.

[Armigo91]

Add either nuclear thermal propulsion or plasma engines to the design and you have one big 21st spacecraft.

[HNMpepper]

I have had an idea how this could be utilised for a Mars mission:

Similar, to the Mars for less plan, instead of a heavy lifter, skylon could launch trans-mars injection propellent separate. However with only 12 tonnes to LEO capability (at the equator), I'm not sure whether it would be worth it and a heavy lifter would be cheaper even though skylon uses scramjets and a Saturn V type vehicle wouldn't. I haven't done the math, so I'm not sure but I may do it some time.

[HNMpepper]

@HNMpepper

By the way trans-mars injection proppelent wouldn't be launched in segments. I don't think an entire earth departure stage weighs a feeble 12 tonnes!

[HNMpepper]

@HNMpepper

I mean 'would' not 'wouldn't'. Sorry!

[Armigo91]

@HNMpepper

12 tons at extremely low cost. It can also carry people even although it was not its intended purpose of doing so. Simply by putting a space living cabin in the cargo bay. Then the skylon can land to ship the rocket, then it can land again to cargo fuel to orbit. The skylon can build like 100 ISS space stations at the same cost of 1 ISS by using a spaceshuttle.

Just imagine how hellish big a mothership the skylon can build over time. We could make a interplanetary space station.

[Malbo22]

I never knew Reaction Engines employed Brian Blessed for their narrators! :P

[DangerousDac]

"Projected to be operation before 2020".

Really?

[wrylie188]

@Jimbob8971 true, true, all I'm saying is there are better alternatives available to America

[wrylie188]

@Jimbob8971 What actually happened was another user commented asking why America or another superpower had not invested in SKYLON, to which I responded it was because we already had Virgin Galactic, as well as Boeing's space adventures, XCOR Aerospace, SpaceX, and RocketShip Tours, all comercial spaceflight companies based in the USA, among several others.

Many of these companies, including Boeing and SpaceX, have made unmanned testings of orbital spacecraft.

[wrylie188]

@Jimbob8971 Yes, I am, are you trying to make a point?

[wrylie188]

@Jimbob8971 Trust me, what were the two countries that made the greatest space exploration and travel breakthroughs in the last fifty years? America and Russia. Several other countries are following in our footsteps, but America has, lets face it, the strongest commercial spaceliner interest and industry, and will take over space for it's commercial value. What I'm saying is, Virgin Galactic has a spaceship, has a pilot, has customers, and has a spaceport UC SKYLON is an idea, you can't compare.

[MrMorg19]

@wrylie188 Space yes, travel no. Screw gayboy Branson!

[wrylie188]

@Jimbob8971 reason 3 is an opinion. It is highly likely other craft will compete with SKYLON, one that actually has funding and a working prototype(s), not just a blueprint and a few CGI animations.

[wrylie188]

@Jimbob8971 What I'm trying to say is that you cannot compare what SKYLON offers (an idea) wih Virgin Galactic (a product) Besides, SKYLON is supposed to be 10 years advanced of our technology, VG is launching next year. You just can't compare them. They're two completely different things.

[wrylie188]

@Jimbob8971 1. Sure, it looks great on paper, but 99% of all ideas do. 2. reaction engines aren't a new idea, they've been around for years, the reason we don't use them is because the amount of equpment you have to haul around and th complexity of the system's just aren't efficient or economically viable. 3. Virgin DOES plany to make orbital spacecraft one day within the next 2 decades, along with five other companies already prototyping commercial spaceflight technology.

[wrylie188]

@Jimbob8971 Sure It all sounds great, but so does the gravity-powered airplane, cold fusion, and the space elevator. What I'm saying is that virgin galactic and skylon can't be compared- they're apples and oranges. Virgin Galactic's product is real, its technology is real, they are 1 year away from putting paying customers in space. Skylon is an idea- sure, its a great idea, but it's nowhere near a finished product. By the year 2025 at least 6 companies plan to reach orbit, including Virgin.

[gaming8]

Mmm! but will it get goverment backing and support that it needs? Britain is the only nation that developed a rocket, launched a satalite then scrapped the programme. The only nation that had a satalite launch capalbility which can be worth billions in revenue, the gov pulled the plug! Great inventors and inventions such as Concorde, vhtol jets etc, but a bad goverment, no funding with no ambitions. Richard Bransons only managing to get Virgin galatic off the ground through private investments.

[tmtyler]

Why is it black? Shouldn't planes be white?

[SpaceRenaissance]

@tmtyler Aero-shell composite, a very light and superbly heat resistant material developed by Pyromeral Systems that is envisioned to be used in constructing the Skylon's hull is of black colour.

[rogerpenna]

@tmtyler

planes can be any color. The Blackbird btw, was black.

[eacao]

@tmtyler what makes you say that?

[tmtyler]

@eacao I understand that most planes are white because dark pigments unnecessarily add weight.

[Winner8501]

I really hope ESA and the European governments man up and fund this. Development is projected to take about 10 years and 10 billion euros, which is I think totally affordable. In 2011, the company will make a demonstration of its Sabre engine. If the test is successful, we WILL KNOW the concept is viable.

If then the European governments kill it because of the usual political infighting, I hope they all die within a year. It's the one chance Europe has to lead the way to the future.

[OnlyLifeMatters]

@Winner8501 I agree with you to the very core of your comment. I believe that EU has the desire to gain international attention, so they might get funding from not only from ESA, but EU as a whole.

[zrepeels]

'Reaction Engines has posted a monthly update, discussing the recent Skylon System Requirements Review held at Harwell. Around ninety invited experts from Europe, USA, Russia, India, Japan and South Korea were tasked with evaluating the technical and economic feasibility of the Skylon SSTO concept. Initial indications are that the outcome was positive:

'The preliminary results of the event are indicative that the majority of the attendees consider SKYLON to be a viable concept.'

Good news.

[bunchlead]

@zrepeels How long before the Americans or some other nation invests in this project instead of us through lack of investment. British government is all for spending its wealth on benefit scroungers and immigrants.

[wrylie188]

@bunchlead Cuz we got Virgin Galactic.

[OnlyLifeMatters]

@wrylie188 Virgin Galactic doesn't quite compare to this.

[wrylie188]

@OnlyLifeMatters At least virgin galactic is past the concept phase.

[SpaceRenaissance]

@wrylie188 SpaceShip Two ("SS2"), which is the right name for the asset (as Virgin Galactic is operator that can switch to any hardware as it sees fit) is very, very different proposition from Skylon. Virgin's asset, developed by The Spaceship Company, is sub-orbital vehicle capable of going just above 100km and for few minutes to it. Skylon is a full-blown all-or-nothing heavy duty lift intended for proper orbital servicing (12 tonnes to LEO in a single oomph) and not just for parabolic flight

[wrylie188]

@SpaceRenaissance Sure, but so was the gravity powered airplane.

[OnlyLifeMatters]

@wrylie188 Of course, it has existed longer.

[zrepeels]

UK Space Agency reviewing project this week. Critical pre-cooler run next summer to test the technology. Skylon is moving.

[AugustusAurelianus1]

absolutely awesome, fabulous end tantalizing! , Hopefully the engineering is indeed as viable and the production as cost reduced as advertised here, thus making the entire project something to which humanity may aspire and be proud of...

[luhn01]

give them more money

[Joe35983]

Skylon FTW (For The Win)