I attended a RAeS talk given by Alan Bond, from HOTOL to SABRE, or something similar.
I was somewhat captivated by the concept of HOTOL as a student, but he, having been there and done it, was less so. According to this talk, it would never have worked.
It's clear that Skylon, or in fact any other mooted system is a way of keeping people interested in REL. The only interest is in developing the SABRE engine, and I think that that is completely the right thing to do.
If there was to be any serious work on a practical application, I would prefer to see work on a vehicle that can crack the ground-to-space tourism and science nut whilst building experience with the engine. This is a much more practical goal whilst providing a useful service, and experience. Whilst that is going on, there should be some work done on making a Skylon/commercial vehicle that can operate off existing runways. I'd love to see the system operate out of Fairford.
Last edited by unmanned_droid; 12th November 2015 at 23:40.
Reason: mooted/muted stupidity