Liquid Air Cycle Engine
A Liquid Air Cycle Engine (LACE) is a type of spacecraft propulsion engine that attempts to increase its efficiency by gathering part of its oxidizer from the atmosphere. A liquid air cycle engine uses cryogenic hydrogen fuel to liquify the air.
In a LOX/LH2 bipropellant rocket the liquid oxygen needed for combustion is the majority of the weight of the spacecraft on lift-off, so if some of this can be collected from the air on the way, it might dramatically lower the take-off weight of the spacecraft.
LACE was studied to some extent in the USA during the late 1950s and early 1960s, and by late 1960 Marquardt had a testbed system running. However, as NASA moved to ballistic capsules during Project Mercury, funding for research into winged vehicles slowly disappeared, and LACE work along with it.
Read more about Liquid Air Cycle Engine: Principle of Operation, History
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