"Progress has been steady, with day-to-day work on readying SABRE for test flights that Bond says could take place as early as 2018. [...] The ESA has also prai

"Progress has been steady, with day-to-day work on readying SABRE for test flights that Bond says could take place as early as 2018. [...] The ESA has also praised the economic model, claiming the Skylon could meet its launch cost target of €70 million ($94 million)" SpaceX is already making launches for cheaper than that[0] (even though their manifest is already full until sometime in 2016) and hopes to be able to lower their costs by up to 90% with their reusable launch system program over the next few years. Skylon may be a great idea, and if they were 5 years ahead of where they are now then I'd be really excited for them. But if they're still 4 years away from flight tests after 30 years of development, and will be behind where the competition are now when they get there, I for one am not as impressed as the ESA is with their economic model. [0] http://www.spacex.com/about/capabilities http://www.spacex.com/about/capabilities