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The Engine of the Air-Breathing Rocket

Lift-off

Air-Breathing Rocket

NASA engineers have designed a new rocket engines that eliminates the need for onboard oxidizer for the purpose of lightening the load of spacecraft at launch.
Air-breathing engines, work similarly to ordinary rocket engines but obtain their oxygen from the atmosphere, much in the same way as a jet engine. Since a spacecraft with such an engine would not have to carry the oxidizer, it would weigh far less, be much easier and cheaper to get into orbit.

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Photo Courtesy NASA