# Skylon Space Plane



## nubins (Nov 28, 2012)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20510112 

Passed a key independant test as to its technology actually working. Amazing stuff, even more amazing that it's made in Britain. Makes you wonder what will happen if this tech comes off, at the cost reductions and payload size increases this thing gives.. could the UK become a major space player alongside the USA, Russia and China?

I couldn't see any other posts about this tech, having searched for skylon, so sorry if this is old news around here .. but it passing the independant tests is new


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## Metryq (Dec 2, 2012)

Skylon sounds a lot like the rumored Aurora. Combined cycle engines seems like a good idea, but I wonder if it will truly be cheaper than staging in practice. NASA's space shuttle was actually a monstrosity pushed by the military. All of its missions could have been accomplished more cheaply with "expendable" rockets geared for cargo or personnel. 

SpaceX is working on an advanced recovery system for its spent stages. So it remains to be seen if Skylon can beat Spacex's efficiency and cost, assuming the Skylon ever flies.


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