In article ,
says...
And it won't necessarily be one approach which wins. I can easily
imagine something of the kind vertical landing à la SpaceX and dumping
the tanks à la Airbus wins. Or vice versa. The more things are tried the
more knowledge we get, at the worst on what doesn't work, hopefully on
what does.

Agreed. Competition is a good thing.

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