Well, I'm off to patent a theory on my cooler which works on a nest of fine tubes to supercool air in 1/100th of a second

/Apple and Sony and M$ can patent crap that doesn't exist yet too, so why not me?

Skylon has always been a long shot for me, so this is good news to hear its progressing.

/I'll refrain from commenting on its bizarre technical nature.
/problems always seem easier to solve when you don't fully understand the subject.

How it works. Though it doesn't say what TFA says is the biggest secret; how to prevent it from icing over. 

And their engines look very phallic. Plus, I don't see the any incorporation into the design for the tank large enough to hold all of the oil that needs to be leaked to get it into orbit.

Chief executive Tim Hayter believes the company could have an operational engine ready for sale within 10 years if it can raise the development funding.

10 years is code for never.

To make a car analogy,

this company has a revolutionary new engine design that will outperform everything on the market. It's turbosupercharged and intercooled, and when it's finished, It will quadruple power and fuel efficiency.

What they have done, Is shown us the Intercooler. It's a very nifty intercooler, but it is only an intercooler, and they have not yet to even begin with building the turbosupercharger, or the engine itself.

But hey, look at this intercooler. Isn't it shiny? It can do things no other intercooler can.

/It's neat, but it's not the revolutionary invention they claim until the rest of the engine actually exists and works.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayaks

madgonad: Yeah, the scramjet has been known and tinkered with for a long time. This company thinks it has found a way to do something different by solving a jet-engine limitation by 'instantly' cooling hot compressed air to -138c nearly instantly. Ignoring the energy cost to do such a thing (enormous), I don't see what differential they are using to cool the air. Moving that much heat is going to require the mother of all radiators unless they are injecting liquid O2 into the intake - in which case why not just go the scramjet route. This screams cold-fusion.

Liquid hydrogen or some other chilled flammable gas. Then you don't need to carry much liquid oxygen on your way out of the atmosphere, and the rammed high altitude air has the density to keep the boiled liquid hydrogen lit.

There's still issues with the fact you need a shiatload of fuel to get into orbit. Going from a dead stop to 11 km/s is a huge change, and once you get up past mach 1 air resistance is a biatch.

cgraves67: Jubeebee: No patent, no prototype, no details, private investors only?

I'll believe it when I see it. So far there are a lot of similarities between this and the people who black box water into energy.

I'm a bit skeptical myself. When an inventor doesn't file a patent, it usually means they don't want to be subject to close scrutiny.

bbfreak: I will believe it when I see it. Yes it sounds fantastic, but keep in mind that Reaction Engines Limited has been around since 1989 and hasn't produced anything yet. These engine tests are as about as close as they've got past pretty ooh and ah concept art.

Jubeebee: No patent, no prototype, no details, private investors only?

I'll believe it when I see it. So far there are a lot of similarities between this and the people who black box water into energy.

Here you go, better article from the BBC - embedded video at the bottom: Link

Just as I thought. I'm really excited about the Skylon's dual engine. If I recall correctly, it'd be unmanned. That's a shame, but it's a step in the right direction launch tech.

Nebulious: Just as I thought. I'm really excited about the Skylon's dual engine. If I recall correctly, it'd be unmanned. That's a shame, but it's a step in the right direction launch tech.

If I recall, the British space program effectively has a ban on sending people or funding the transport of people into space. All of the Brits who've gotten there have had to do it by alternative means, and they don't take part in the ISS.

If you can put at least five tons of cargo uphill, you can put men in space. So if Skylon works then its a minor affair to make it into a people transport (mechanically speaking, that is. It will still take a mountain of paperwork to certify it.).

Personally I think it doesn't make much sense to have an air breathing engine on a ship that can be outside of the atmosphere in a few minutes. Nor is it sensible to make a body rigid enough to withstand extended high speed flight when you can do your acceleration in space. I think the weight of the additional engine technology needed could be replaced by adding a bit more fuel and saving the complication.

...Then again, maybe the people for Skylon see something that I don't.
Hopefully I'm wrong and cheap space travel is just around the corner.

way south: Nebulious: If I recall, the British space program effectively has a ban on sending people or funding the transport of people into space. All of the Brits who've gotten there have had to do it by alternative means, and they don't take part in the ISS..

Major Tim Peake would like a word in your shell-like...

dalmo: way south: Nebulious: If I recall, the British space program effectively has a ban on sending people or funding the transport of people into space. All of the Brits who've gotten there have had to do it by alternative means, and they don't take part in the ISS..

Major Tim Peake would like a word in your shell-like...

If it happens, wouldn't he be flying on the ESA's ticket?
I wouldn't know if that qualifies as them breaking with their old habits.

/Altho there's been rumors that they'll soon change their stance, so maybe its a moot point now.
/That aside: We cannot allow British cooking into space.

wildcardjack: madgonad: Yeah, the scramjet has been known and tinkered with for a long time. This company thinks it has found a way to do something different by solving a jet-engine limitation by 'instantly' cooling hot compressed air to -138c nearly instantly. Ignoring the energy cost to do such a thing (enormous), I don't see what differential they are using to cool the air. Moving that much heat is going to require the mother of all radiators unless they are injecting liquid O2 into the intake - in which case why not just go the scramjet route. This screams cold-fusion.

Liquid hydrogen or some other chilled flammable gas. Then you don't need to carry much liquid oxygen on your way out of the atmosphere, and the rammed high altitude air has the density to keep the boiled liquid hydrogen lit.

There's still issues with the fact you need a shiatload of fuel to get into orbit. Going from a dead stop to 11 km/s is a huge change, and once you get up past mach 1 air resistance is a biatch.

Everything I've seen implies that this is what they claim. Could somebody explain how this isn't robbing Peter to pay Paul? You have a certain amount of heat in the air, you transfer it to the hydrogen, and then you remix them back together to the original heat? Also where is the cooler? If it is before the compressor it is pretty silly (the air shouldn't be that hot, unless you are considering some sort of "two stage compression" where the first compression stage is when it hits the inner cone) after the compression stage the robbing Peter for Paul is even more pronounced since it should be time to add the hydrogen.