This is the new super-plane. Why is it in the news?
The UK government has pumped £60m into a next-generation engine that will apparently make low-cost space travel possible for commercial customers.
Really? Will we be exploring the final frontier by Christmas?
Not quite. The new ‘Sabre’ engine - a hybrid rocket and jet propulsion system which theoretically allows travel anywhere on Earth in four hours or less - is still at least a decade away. However a full ground-based engine test is planned for 2020.
Who’s making it?
A company called Reaction Engines - which is based at Culham Science Centre in Oxfordshire - has been given a £60m grant by the government to help it develop and build the Skylon super-plane. The cash will also be used to help change the company from being mainly research-based to testing and eventual commercial applications.
60 million!! :/
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/bu...-a6718081.html