Friday, April 27, 2012

Key tests for Skylon spaceplane project

bbc news     h/t     behindtheblack

The test stand will not validate the full Sabre propulsion system, but simply its enabling technology - a special type of pre-cooler heat exchanger.
Reaction Engines' breakthrough is a module containing arrays of extremely fine piping that can extract the heat and plunge the intake gases to minus 140C in just 1/100th of a second.
"It is important to state that the geometry of the pre-cooler is not a model. That is a piece of real Sabre engine," said Mr Bond.

Comment:

I get a bad feeling about our own efforts here.  If this works, they will have outsmarted us.

People seem to have this notion that spending a lot of money will guarantee a successful outcome.  But that is not necessarily so.  Newt Gingrich discussed that in his political speech in Florida about prizes for space achievements- which was criticized for being unrealistic.  He said that a well funded group that tried to perfect flying- failed.  But the Wright Brothers succeeded despite the fact that they weren't as well funded as that group.

Having deep pockets won't guarantee success in this line of work.  A well executed plan that is sound will succeed even if it isn't well funded.  The point is that the brains are what counts, not the bucks.

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