British technology company to 'transform' air and space travel

Re:British technology company to 'transform' air and space t... by 7952 on Tuesday December 01, 2015 @01:52PM (#10657785)

I am not a rocket scientist but I think the horizontal take-off is a huge drawback.

* The wings would only be useful at relatively low speeds and then just add lots of mass.

* Wings that are efficient at high mach-numbers would be less effective at take-off. Presumably lots of fuel would be burned at low speed to make up for this.

* The structure would need to be strong enough to function whilst horizontal and filled with fuel.

* It would need a large heavy undercarriage capable of supporting the entire take-off weight.

I am unconvinced that horizontal take-off has much benefit anyway. A flight within the atmosphere to a launch site would inevitably use lots of fuel and eliminate any payload capacity. Also, it is hard to believe that anyone is going to allow a massive hydrogen fuel tank to fly over populated areas.

A more traditional single stage to orbit would make more sense IMHO.

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Re:British technology company to 'transform' air and space t... by Gravityloss on Tuesday December 01, 2015 @02:16PM (#10657951)

On the other hand if you can use existing runways for ferrying the Skylon around, it can give a lot of operational flexibility.

You do still need hydrogen etc, but maybe you can bring that in with a normal jetliner.

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