Re: How big would an SSTO be?

Ian Parker wrote:
On 3 Jul, 04:55, Sylvia Else <syl...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Jeff Findley wrote:
"Sylvia Else" <syl...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:468644f5$0$15142$afc38c87@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Ian Parker wrote:
Skylon has some of these details - fiber reinforced ceramic. Loads
purely aerodynamic. This design has I understand been around for some
time. There must be snags somewhere otherwise NASA would have adopted
it.
The main snag in that regard would be that it wasn't invented in America.
The main snag is that the engines in the "design" don't exist. And I mean
that in the sense that there have been absolutely zero full size hypersonic
air breathing engines tested at hypersonic speeds.
The real lesson NASA should have learned with X-33 is, if you're going to do
SSTO, stick with off the shelf technologies.
Jeff
Which is a real problem if SSTO cannot be achieved with those technologies.

Fortunately, work on the SABRE engine is continuing as part of the
Lapacat program:

http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/space/news/article_3846_en.html

Those references were exceedingly interesting. The research seems as
yet to be at a fundamental level. One interesting point is that the
airframe itself is envisaged as being the engine. The supersonic shock
wanes compress the air, a fuel burns and rarifaction in the trailing
edge propels the aircaft forward.

Note that there are two distinct engines and airframes types being described there. The SABRE from RE, and something from SNECMA. RE's engine has a more conventional airframe to go with it.

http://www.reactionengines.co.uk/lapcat_veh.html

Sylvia.
.

Relevant Pages

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