Skylon and the Sabre Engine

[Krikkit]

hidetheelephants said:

dr_gn said:

I thought they were quietly shelved when they realised the crew would starve long before the engines stopped?

The two heads/FLKs/acute radiation poisoning thing was likely to get them first; reactor shielding was one of the issues never adequately solved, even theoretically.

Until we can invent a lightweight way to shield gamma rays then that'll be true forever.

[hidetheelephants]

Krikkit said:

hidetheelephants said:

dr_gn said:

I thought they were quietly shelved when they realised the crew would starve long before the engines stopped?

The two heads/FLKs/acute radiation poisoning thing was likely to get them first; reactor shielding was one of the issues never adequately solved, even theoretically.

Until we can invent a lightweight way to shield gamma rays then that'll be true forever.

Not a lot of call for nuclear powered bombers; even in the 1950s the boffins in charge of the research at ORNL were pretty sure it was impractical, but the USAF research funding firehose was directed at the problem anyway, and produced some impressive technology that ought to have been funded to maturity rather than dropped in favour of the fast breeder programme.

[Zad]

Update bump!

Reaction Engines have put together the resources to build a SABRE hypersonic testbed design.

https://www.reactionengines.co.uk/news/news/concep...

[dr_gn]

"...the launch of a conceptual study..."

Wow.

[hidetheelephants]

dr_gn said:

"...the launch of a conceptual study..."

Wow.

Has anyone ever built a hypersonic testbed? If not then a paper study is a pretty prudent investment before passing the hat round for money to build bricks and mortar.

[dr_gn]

hidetheelephants said:

dr_gn said:

"...the launch of a conceptual study..."

Wow.

Has anyone ever built a hypersonic testbed? If not then a paper study is a pretty prudent investment before passing the hat round for money to build bricks and mortar.

This has been going on for decades, and will probably go on for decades more.

[anonymous-user]

hidetheelephants said:

dr_gn said:

"...the launch of a conceptual study..."

Wow.

Has anyone ever built a hypersonic testbed?

I think you'll find a hypersonic test bed is a massive PITA. as by lunchtime you've got a 7 day drive to go back and fetch your sarnies from the cloakroom.......





IGMC

[hidetheelephants]

dr_gn said:

This has been going on for decades, and will probably go on for decades more.

I get that; not unlike fusion power in some respects, but the sums of money needed are rather less and I have more faith in a practical SABRE emerging by ~2050 than practical fusion power...

[Zad]

The important thing is that it is still alive and receiving funding from external parties. Organisations that actually know what they are doing not just random investment funds. If nothing else, it pushes the state of the art along a few more notches. I suspect when Chinese space tech reaches critical mass, a large chunk of US based cash may suddenly get invested.