British spaceplane concept gets infusion of cashThe competition heats up: Reaction Engines, the British company developing a hybrid air-breathing rocket engine, today received obtained a significant funding boost from a new private partner as well as the British government.
The government has committed $60 million, while BAE has purchased 20% of the company with a commitment of an additional $20 million.
The craft Reaction Engines intends to eventually produce, known as Skylon, depends on the ability to cool an incoming airstream from 1,000 degrees C to minus 150 C almost instantly, at close to 1/100th of a second. That process doubles the technical limits of a jet engine, and would enable the craft to reach extremely fast speeds in Earth’s atmosphere, up to give times the speed of sound, before switching to a rocket engine to reach orbit.
Don’t start buying tickets however. They don’t expect to begin manned test flights for at least a decade
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
The competition heats up: Reaction Engines, the British company developing a hybrid air-breathing rocket engine, today received obtained a significant funding boost from a new private partner as well as the British government.
The government has committed $60 million, while BAE has purchased 20% of the company with a commitment of an additional $20 million.
The craft Reaction Engines intends to eventually produce, known as Skylon, depends on the ability to cool an incoming airstream from 1,000 degrees C to minus 150 C almost instantly, at close to 1/100th of a second. That process doubles the technical limits of a jet engine, and would enable the craft to reach extremely fast speeds in Earth’s atmosphere, up to give times the speed of sound, before switching to a rocket engine to reach orbit.
Don’t start buying tickets however. They don’t expect to begin manned test flights for at least a decade
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
This would be a remarkable achievement if the Brits can pull this off. Methinks it will take far more money than Her Majesty’s government will ultimately be willing to contribute.
I have been fascinated by this concept for a few years, and I hope they succeed; they may give SpaceX and any other efficient launch providers an excellent source of competition. They have tested a ground version of their heat transfer system, “to cool an incoming airstream from 1,000 degrees C to minus 150 C almost instantly, at close to 1/100th of a second,” and it seems to have worked.
Six months ago, the US Air Force decided that the SABRE engine concept was feasible. This gives me some confidence that Reaction Engines may succeed, as opposed to them performing some form of scam on investors.
I have long wondered how they can cool the air to such a low temperature without clogging the heat exchanger with water ice. It could be quite some time before we know, because they are holding that proprietary information as a trade secret. I can only imagine (without any evidence or knowledge on the subject) that ice crystals don’t form fast enough to cling to the heat exchanger in the time (perhaps a little over a millisecond) that they have from reaching the freezing point to exiting the heat exchanger system.
For those who are interesed, this link helps to explain the engine, including the need to cool the air to such low temperature:
http://www.reactionengines.co.uk/sabre_howworks.html