Space planes should absolutely be part of our strategy, but their effectiveness diminishes once you get past LEO. An effective program would have different vehicles for different purposes, using the right tool for each job.
Taking mass to low earth orbit (LEO) is the gating item to increased space travel and exploration; Skylon, SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Orbital Sciences are all focused on reducing this cost. It is quite well understood that outside of plans like Mars Direct and Semi-direct, interplanetary and interstellar travel will require other technologies such as novel electric and nuclear drives, but we are simply not at a point where that is an issue yet.[1][2]
Comments
Space planes should absolutely be part of our strategy, but their effectiveness diminishes once you get past LEO. An effective program would have different vehicles for different purposes, using the right tool for each job.
Taking mass to low earth orbit (LEO) is the gating item to increased space travel and exploration; Skylon, SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Orbital Sciences are all focused on reducing this cost. It is quite well understood that outside of plans like Mars Direct and Semi-direct, interplanetary and interstellar travel will require other technologies such as novel electric and nuclear drives, but we are simply not at a point where that is an issue yet.[1][2]
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ion_thruster
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_thermal_rocket