The future of space travel?

[Seabear]

First, those crafty Brits brought us the Space Penetrator... now this.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/acros ... ion-skylon

[spoil:3d57ssok]Imagine taking off from a runway like a normal aeroplane but flying so high and so fast that when you unclip your seatbelt, you float around the cabin. Look out of the windows: on one side is the inky blackness of deep space, while on the other is the electric blue of your home planet, Earth.

This is no joyride for a few brief minutes of space-tourism weightlessness. Instead you are three, five or even 10 times higher than those little hops. In front of you is your destination: a space station. Perhaps it is a hotel or a place of work. You are in low earth orbit – and you've got there in far less time than it takes for a transatlantic flight.

This is the promise of the spaceplane, and it took a step closer to reality yesterday. UK Minister for Universities and Science David Willetts confirmed the government's £60m investment in Reaction Engines Ltd.

Spaceplanes are what engineers call single-stage-to-orbit (if you really want to geek out, just use the abbreviation: SSTO). They have long been a dream because they would be fully reusable, taking off and landing from a traditional runway.

By building reusable spaceplanes, the cost of reaching orbit could be reduced to a twentieth current levels. That makes spaceplanes a game changer both for taking astronauts into space and for deploying satellites and space probes.

If all goes to plan, the first test flights could happen in 2019, and Skylon – Reaction Engines' spaceplane – could be visiting the International Space Station by 2022. It will carry 15 tonnes of cargo on each trip. That's almost twice the amount of cargo that the European Space Agency's ATV vehicle can carry.[/spoil:3d57ssok]

[Youssuf Ramadan]

I'm not going til they replace the Honeywell emergency locator beacons with ones that don't ignite....  [-(

..... and I need to do more overtime to afford it!  :Hangman:

[Solitary]

I've had enough adventure in my lifetime to want to go to outer space.   Solitary

[Agramon]

So I've got ~10 years to get enough money saved up to go to space. Seems plausible.

[Seabear]

I'd love to take a trip to orbit

[Youssuf Ramadan]

I've had enough adventure in my lifetime to want to go to outer space.   Solitary

Even less atmosphere than a Cornish nightclub...  [-(

[Shiranu]

I've had enough adventure in my lifetime to want to go to outer space.   Solitary

I...

But...

I...

Does not compute :.

[stromboli]

Looks good on paper. Would like to know Richard Braniff and Elon Musk's opinion.