Lots of good stuff over there today. Jeff Foust got an interview with Burt Rutan. I’m not surprised that the accident has caused a delay in engine development (I’d have been surprised if it hadn’t). I am surprised to hear that they’re considering going away from nitrous. What are the other options, if they want to continue to use a hybrid (whose safety Alex Tai continues to tout, a little too much I think)? Peroxide? LOX? They have their problems, too. I wonder if they’ll finally consider releasing control, and giving the work to a propulsion subcontractor that knows what it’s doing (e.g., XCOR, though that would mean a liquid, not a hybrid, since they have no interest in or experience with hybrids).

On other topics, there’s an interesting article about the V-Prize, a concept that was new to me:

The types of aircraft capable of crossing the Atlantic in less than one hour will have rocket engines. Their average speed will be greater than 6,000 km/h and their maximum speed will reach Mach 15 or even Mach 20.