keithisco Posted May 29, 2014 #1 Share Posted May 29, 2014 As the Skylon spaceplane and Sabre engine move forward, this is very good news, and it is 100% UK!! It appears a feasible proposition, economically. That is the conclusion of a study that considered a European launch service based on a Skylon re-usable spaceplane. The report, commissioned by the European Space Agency (Esa), was led by Reaction Engines Limited (REL) of Oxfordshire with help from a range of other contractors such as London Economics, QinetiQ and Thales Alenia Space (TAS). It looked closely at how an operator of the UK-conceived vehicle might meet the demands of its market. Those requirements would be primarily to loft big telecoms satellites high above the equator of the Earth, but also to put smaller, Earth-observing spacecraft in Sun-synchronous orbits (a type of orbit around the poles). These are the sorts of jobs the Ariane 5 rocket does today, and which Ariane 6, currently under discussion among European governments, may do from the early 2020s onwards. Read more (courtesy BBC): http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-27591432 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waspie_Dwarf Posted May 29, 2014 #2 Share Posted May 29, 2014 Skylon 'spaceplane economics stack up' It appears a feasible proposition, economically. That is the conclusion of a study that considered a European launch service based on a Skylon re-usable spaceplane.The report, commissioned by the European Space Agency (Esa), was led by Reaction Engines Limited (REL) of Oxfordshire with help from a range of other contractors such as London Economics, QinetiQ and Thales Alenia Space (TAS). It looked closely at how an operator of the UK-conceived vehicle might meet the demands of its market. Read more... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithisco Posted May 29, 2014 Author #3 Share Posted May 29, 2014 Hi Waspie, I posted this in Science and Technology at 12:44 today. Might be an idea to merge them.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waspie_Dwarf Posted May 29, 2014 #4 Share Posted May 29, 2014 Hi Waspie, I posted this in Science and Technology at 12:44 today. Might be an idea to merge them.... Thanks for the heads up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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