Properties of a new engine

In my story, I need a spaceplane, that is, a shuttle which can fly in an atmosphere as well as in space. It needs to be able to land from space, and then take off and go to space without refuelling on the planet. Also, single stage to orbit is a must.

As far as I know, no current propulsion method is a good fit. The weight of the fuel required to get to space is too much to be able to land from space, and take off again without refuelling.

So I decided that humankind developed the X-Engine in between now and the first chapter of my story. I don't care much about how the X-Engine works. The answer "It works very well" is good enough. But I do want to know what it feels like to fly in such a space plane, and what other effects the (invention of the) X-Engine would have.

E.g. (1) what is it like to take off, fly and land in an X-Engine powered space craft? (2) what would the space craft look like? (3) where would the X-Engine be used, besides space craft? Airliners? Flying taxi?

As I said, I do not necessarily need an explanation of how the engine works, but answers should be consistent. Obviously, the engine needs a lot less fuel than existing engines, which sounds like a huge cost cut for airlines, so, if it is not used by airliners, tell me why.

posted about 5 years ago

Alex‭

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