This concept is very similiar to the U.S. X-30 National Aerospace Plane (NASP) of the 80s-90s. I'd assume the Skylon would have the same engineering challenges, namely:

Dear God. I so wish I had not watched that.

@Fodder650:

The Sea Shadow was a one off technology demonstrator. It was never designed for deployment. Think of it like a concept car. Those radical designs never make it into production, but certain elements appear in the next generation of production vehicles.

Big Dog has been cancelled. A victim of the recent funding cuts. True it was designed to carry supplies in, but it was also designed to get medical supplies to wounded troops caught in the open. It was hoped that later versions would also be able to extricate wounded troops from the battlefield without endagering…

I really liked the first one. I think because of that I didn't like the second two, because there was something missing. Maybe the first one's humor was more subtle.

There is no oxygen to ignite the methane, so a lander would be safe. There are other problems though. The cassini probe lander slid around quite a bit on the surface. It is theorized that the heat of the lander caused the methane to evaporate and created a cushion of vapor underneath the lander.

Here's a few notes for your guideline

I urge you to read Mars Direct by David Zubrin. It outlines all the reasons we shouldn't go to the Moon first. It's a great book and it actually managed to get me to change my mind on a couple of things...no small task.

Let's count

The difference is that the engines are tested under full power before liftoff. They can still fail in flight, but it is rare that they would fail in flight and not show some anomaly before shutdown that would signal an abort.

The launch manifest has a 2012 demo flight for the Falcon Heavy

If you build it, they will come. As a U.S. Naval officer that has been involved in space operations, I can tell you that there are a whole lot of projects just waiting for this kind of capability. In fact, if you read the entire announcement, it is clear that this statement was geared to throw their hat in the ring…

Lol. I thought I was the only one that remembered that movie!

They should just make all the bathroom doors push to open on the way out. That way you could use your shoulder and not touch the handle after washing your hands. I'm less worried about touching the handle on the way in. This is such a simple solution I can't figure out why it isn't implemented everywhere.

That's not true. I currently have Firefox 3, Chrome and Explorer 9 all installed right now. I actually prefer using Explorer because I know it's going to work every time. I still run into sites that Firefox and Chrome display incorrectly. And Chrome feels like a half-finished product. There are just enough minor…

This movie is not going lose money...especially if it only cost 82 mil. This movie is going to make BUTTLOADS of money overseas..especially in Asia. Getting this movie out at 82 million is a stroke of genious by the studios.

I understood when Dune and Gattaca went down early because of horrible seedings. I accepted "the Day the Earth Stood Still" and Planet of the Apes losing out to newer, flashier movies. But I swear, there is NO JUSTICE IN THE WORLD if Terminator loses to Serenity. None!

I never knew that Howl's moving castle was a novel. I saw the Miyazaki movie and thought that it was his creation. I really didn't like the movie at all, but the novel probably makes more sense. Thanks io9, as if I didn't have enough stuff to read already!