Engineer will revolutionise space travel

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Alan Bond: The British engineer says he will revolutionise space travel – and he's building the rocket to do it

Some time in the middle of the next decade a revolutionary new engine will propel a reusable space plane called Skylon towards the heavens, hopefully changing the way we escape our atmosphere for ever.

The Synergetic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine (Sabre) isn't a product of Nasa or a super-wealthy space entrepreneur. It's the brainchild of a quiet, British engineer called Alan Bond. And, from its base in a science park near Oxford, his company Reaction Engines is getting closer to perfecting its design.

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[+Noteverythingisaconspiracy]

I wish him all the luck in the world with this project.

After spending so much time and effort on this, he deserves to see it come true.

The main problem is of course money !

I hope ESA will fund him, but it appears that they are set on the Ariane 6, which doesn't represent any real advance in technology.

His best bet might be if some billionaire sees the potential in his design, and decides to fund him. (like Elon Musk did)

[Waspie_Dwarf]

I hope ESA will fund him, but it appears that they are set on the Ariane 6, which doesn't represent any real advance in technology.

This project is receiving both ESA and United Kingdom Space Agency (UKSA) funding (see HERE and HERE).

As for the Ariane 6, that makes perfect sense. Skylon is a rocket for the future, it is likely to be many years before a prototype flies and several years more before it can enter service.

Ariane 5 is facing an immediate threat, the rise of companies like SpaceX. If ESA and Arianespace wait until Skylon is available it will be too late. Ariane 6 is designed to keep Arianespace competitive.

Skylon maybe be the replacement for Ariane 6, but it's not ready to be the replacement for Ariane 5.

[+Noteverythingisaconspiracy]

You are probably right that they need Ariane 6 in the short term, and the new Airbus design looks more promising, but they also need to look further ahead in order to keep the edge they have had since the first Ariane rockets. So it is good to see that they are recieving funding from ESA.

If it works as advertised (and there is no reason to doubt Mr. Bond) it have the potential to be a gamechanger in commercial spaceflight.