UK Government pledge £60 million to SABRE engine to assist in space plane travel

[LibeRatioNZzXx]

http://www.standard.co.uk/business/business-news/government-pledge-60m-to-sabre-rocket-engine-that-could-revolutionise-space-travel-8713311.html

So the UK government have pledged £60 million ( million) for the development of rocket engines. These engines could be used in next generation space transport which could land on conventional runways such as Heathrow's and boast a cruise speed of mach 5 (which is 5 times faster than the speed of sound) or 6125km/h (3806 mph). This would mean that travel time between Brussels and Sydney would only be 4.6 hours, in comparison to the current 25.07 hours.

So thoughts? Mine are that it's a great idea, but why is this being funded by the government in opposed to commercial airlines who it would surely benefit more?

(Plus although referred to in the article and by me, it is not actually space travel just bordering the edge of space as oxygen is still required)

[Samdb]

Man this is cool, I hope we get our own space program.

[DarkEcho]

About time too, we're wasting away all our money trying to just to get out of this financial crisis, might as well spend it on something AWESOME and get people excited again.

 

Bring back the space race! (I know its not but whatever)

 

I'm off to play Kerbal Space Program now...

[Lavi]

...

 

The government is only paying for £60 million of the estimate £400 million development cost it is getting a lot of private backing. Airlines aren't interested though for much the same reasons concorde isn't flying still. Speed isn't the focus for them efficiency is and a conventional jet is simply better for that.

 

 

Also this thing really deigned for going into space. The engines can switch to tanks of oxygen once it is at mach 5 and above the thickest parts of the atmosphere to climb into orbit. The idea is the weight saving lets it operate with as a reusable single stage space plane which is great for launching satellites.