Portal:Spaceflight/Selected article/Week 1 2008

Skylon is a proposal by Reaction Engines Limited (managed by British rocket scientist Alan Bond) for a single-stage, turbojet-based, airbreathing orbital spaceplane.

The vehicle would be a hydrogen-powered aircraft that would take off from a conventional runway, and accelerate to Mach 5.5 at 26 km before lighting a rocket engine to take it to orbit. It would then release a 12-tonne payload, and reenter. The payload would be a standard aerocontainer, or up to 60 passengers.

During reentry the relatively light vehicle would fly back through the atmosphere and land back at the runway, with its skin protected by a strong ceramic. The vehicle would then undergo any necessary maintenance and would be able to fly again within 2 days.

A fleet of vehicles is envisaged; each vehicle would be reusable at least 200 times. Costs per kg of payload would be below the current costs of launch (as of 2006), including the costs of R&D, with costs expected to fall much more over time after the initial expenditures have amortised.

Originally the key technology to build this aircraft did not exist - the heat exchanger was about ten times lighter than the state of the art. However, research has now achieved the necessary performance. Currently no funding to fully develop and build the vehicle exists, but research and development work is nevertheless ongoing. (more...)