ROCKET REPORT: SpaceShipTwo soars, BFR engine advances, a self-eating booster.

Here’s more on the autophage rocket:

Engineers in Scotland and Ukraine are working on a small “autophage” rocket that consumes itself during ascent. The autophage engine consumes a propellant rod which has solid fuel on the outside and oxidizer on the inside, according to PhysOrg. The researchers say such a rocket could be good for launching CubeSats.

Launch lunch… This is actually kind of a brilliant concept to shed large quantities of mass on the way to orbit and deal with the problem of an empty fuel tank. Whether it’s practical, who knows. At present, the engineers are working with an engine prototype in the lab now and have no direct path to building a rocket around it.

If it works, we’ll at long last have the definitive answer to the question: “What’s the exact opposite of a reusable rocket?”