credit: Reaction Engines / caption: Skylon has been the subject of a UK economic review
As part of the UK space exploration review report an economic study was undertaken of reusable launchers, namely Virgin Galactic’s air launched system, Reaction Engine’s single stage to orbit Skylon and Bristol Spaceplanes Ascender and Spacebus concepts
The space exploration review report can be found here and the economics study can be found here, while the RLV details are from page 46 to page 59 of the economics report
Find the British National Space Centre announcement here for both
The economic report says
The potential benefits to the UK arise from the ability to launch spacecraft at significantly lower cost than can currently be achieved, providing relatively inexpensive access to space for international governments, private companies and the public.
