Aerospace/energy: air-breathing engine rockets past key milestone. (Industry Insider).

Initial design of a new prototype air-breathing rocket engine for NASA -- one that could revolutionize air and space travel in the next 40 years -- has reached a major milestone ahead of schedule. The engine's design team, the Rocket Based Combined Cycle Consortium (RBC3), completed its first major engine systems requirements review three months earlier than originally planned. To design the radical new engine, the consortium combines the propulsion development skills of the Rocketdyne Propulsion & Power business of The Boeing Co., Canoga Park, Calif.; the Pratt & Whitney ...