(Source: Hyperbola)

UK aerospace engineering consultancy Gas Dynamics has completed an internal research study which indicates that SpaceShipTwo, if fitted with a liquid bipropellant rocket engine, could reach 100km from ground level by itself, and would not require the WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft.

Continue reading 'Single stage to 100km'...

Rocketeer comments: Cool, but not necessarily all that surprising (Congratulations, you've just reinvented the Bristol Ascender or Lynx II). I must admit to some misgivings about the current nitrous hybrid system intended for SS2, given nitrous oxide's unfortunate tendency to explosive decomposition, but the risks can apparently be managed. To those who regard liquid biprops as too expensive and unreliable, the likes of Masten, Armadillo and XCOR are busily proving them wrong.