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Old December 1st 12, 05:29 PM posted to sci.space.policy
Jonathan
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Posts: 278
Default SSTO one step closer


"Jeff Findley" wrote in message
...
In article ,
ess says...

Reaction Engines completes precooler testing

http://www.reactionengines.co.uk/news_updates.html

Congrats on the precooler testing, now they need to move on to the next
phase of R&D. See: .signature

Put this head to head with SpaceX's Grasshopper and tell me which one is
going to be cheaper to develop and will be flying on an operational
launcher sooner.

Jeff
--
"the perennial claim that hypersonic airbreathing propulsion would
magically make space launch cheaper is nonsense -- LOX is much cheaper
than advanced airbreathing engines, and so are the tanks to put it in
and the extra thrust to carry it." - Henry Spencer




But the wrong problem is still being solved. Lowering the
cost of space travel by an order of magnitude is not the
problem that needs to be solved.

It's finding a product from space that's an order of magnitude
more valuable. Once that product is found, cheaper access
will find a way, and in a hurry.

Money talks, sci-fi pipe-dreams like mining asteroids or colonies
walk.

And we all know there is only one commodity with that kind
of huge potential for scale, profit and need. Space Energy
doesn't have to compete, it can find all kind of energy
niches, and have them all to itself.
http://www.spaceenergy.com/


And besides, NASA should be about thinking big, about
technology that can create a better future.

Maybe the single greatest technological advance in terms
of changing the world for the better has to be AC power.
Which allowed electricity to travel far and wide in
comparison to DC. Suddenly much of the world can
access electricity ...for the first time...with that advance.

What's the next great leap forward with energy???

It's...wireless....power transmission that can have
the same kind of transformational effect on the world
Allowing access to power, for the first time, to just about
all the places AC still can't serve.

Wireless would have countless new market niches
all to itself.

Just imagine how many people around the world
might be saved and helped by truly wireless power
....falling from the sky?

I dare anyone to name any other space activity
that could have even a fraction of that potential
effect on society and the future.

The energy market is the second largest market
on Earth, just barely behind food. Some $5 Trillion
dollar a year market, where new $10 billion dollar
projects are weekly events.



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