UK Gov backs plans for spaceport.

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Zac Naloen
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Re: UK Gov backs plans for spaceport.

Post by Zac Naloen »

This hasn't got anything to do with Politics with Europe In my opinion.

I know that ESA wants a space port for polar launches and has been looking for one.

This is just the UK giving the green-light that it could happen in the UK rather than another country, especially as the current government have recognised the potential in Space commerce (it's our main growth industry and one our few exports) which is evidenced in them actually giving Reaction Engines a not insignificant cash injection.

And with regards to the Sabre Engine, reaction Engines have no intention of selling these engines only to the UK Space Agency. They want to be the next Rolls Royce (planes version, not cars). And we don't have anything like ITAR that could stop them selling elsewhere, especially as they've already let the US Air Force test one of their engines.

I can see their being multiple airframes with these engines, designed for different mission profiles, just like we have now with commercial liners. Assuming they can go from Engine to SSTO plane.

And If someone works out how Reaction Engines keep the engine from freezing (it's not patented, trade secret so copy away if you work it out), we might even end up with a competitive market that will hopefully bring costs down to something the rest of us can afford.
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Re: UK Gov backs plans for spaceport.

Post by Broomstick »

Zac Naloen wrote:And with regards to the Sabre Engine, reaction Engines have no intention of selling these engines only to the UK Space Agency. They want to be the next Rolls Royce (planes version, not cars).
Actually, Rolls Royce makes airplanes engines, too, or at least they used to (they still do, don't they?) The only RR I've ever "driven" was in an airplane.
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Zac Naloen
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Re: UK Gov backs plans for spaceport.

Post by Zac Naloen »

Sorry yeh, I was only referring to the Jet Engines Rolls Royce make. Do they still make airframes?

I don't think reaction engines have any designs on making Airframes in near future. Certainly Alan Bond thinks that's a fools errand based on his statements in the Lectures I've tracked down on the internet.

I can see an alliance with Airbus for ESA and Boeing for the USA, it's certainly been intimated.
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Re: UK Gov backs plans for spaceport.

Post by Broomstick »

Zac Naloen wrote:Sorry yeh, I was only referring to the Jet Engines Rolls Royce make. Do they still make airframes?
Dunno. I know you can still at least get parts for their aviation piston engines.
A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. Leonard Nimoy.

Now I did a job. I got nothing but trouble since I did it, not to mention more than a few unkind words as regard to my character so let me make this abundantly clear. I do the job. And then I get paid.- Malcolm Reynolds, Captain of Serenity, which sums up my feelings regarding the lawsuit discussed here.

If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich. - John F. Kennedy

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