Air breathing engines are better suited for long distance constant speed cruise than space flight, which is an acceleration mission to far higher speeds and mostly happening outside the atmosphere.
I don't think it's accurate to always mention spaceflight here.
It's a bit like saying your spreadsheet plugin that iterates rows with visual basic enabled more efficient big data. Will maybe work for those who don't know the field.
So far air breathers can produce thrust up to Mach 10, or 3 km/s, and most peter out much earlier (X-43 was Mach 7). A body stays in orbit if it goes horizontally 8 km/s, so it's a whole different ballgame.
Usually these hypersonic related flights consist of an ordinary rocket (not air breathing) boosting a tiny air breather model inlet for some kind of materials or cold flow test.
I don't think it's accurate to always mention spaceflight here. It's a bit like saying your spreadsheet plugin that iterates rows with visual basic enabled more efficient big data. Will maybe work for those who don't know the field.
So far air breathers can produce thrust up to Mach 10, or 3 km/s, and most peter out much earlier (X-43 was Mach 7). A body stays in orbit if it goes horizontally 8 km/s, so it's a whole different ballgame. Usually these hypersonic related flights consist of an ordinary rocket (not air breathing) boosting a tiny air breather model inlet for some kind of materials or cold flow test.