World’s first air-breathing rocket engine

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Government to invest £60 million in world’s first air-breathing rocket engine

---

Through the UK Space Agency, the Government is set to invest £60 million in the development of the SABRE - a British-designed rocket engine which could revolutionise the fields of propulsion and launcher technology, and significantly reduce the costs of accessing space.

---

SABRE has the potential to create 21,000 high value engineering and manufacturing jobs; maximise the UK’s access to a conservatively estimated £13.8 billion launcher market over the next thirty years; and provide economic benefits from spill-over technology markets.

Built by UK company Reaction Engines (REL), the unique engine is designed to extract the oxygen it needs for low atmosphere flight from the air itself, paving the way for a new generation of spaceplanes which would be lighter, reusable and able to take off and launch from conventional airport runways.

Read more...

Edited May 29, 2014 by Waspie_Dwarf
modified tags.

[keithisco]

The world's first Commercial Air - breathing engine is a little more accurate Waspie. There was a proposal from RR back in the 80's using similar technology to power the defunct HOTOL Project.

What I am really pleased about is the fact that Gov.UK has finally realised that this is an important British Development, and has given this money to help in furthering the Sabre.

ESA evaluated the engines last on - ground test and confirmed that the technology pioneered by Reaction Engines is actually viable. The biggest hurdle has been the ability to develop a heat exchanger that can reduce the air inflow temperature from "1,000°C to minus 150°C in less than 1/100th of a second (six times faster than the blink of an eye) without blocking with frost. The recent tests have proven the cooling technology to be frost-free at the crucial low temperature of -150°C". (taken from REL Website)

It is the heat exchanger that is absolutely central to this engine performing as required.

This is the one to watch in the near future, it is the one that will restore the UK's place in Aerospace Engineering (in the past we have all had to go overseas to work on exciting projects), and may even make Ariane redundant.

[Waspie_Dwarf]

The world's first Commercial Air - breathing engine is a little more accurate Waspie. There was a proposal from RR back in the 80's using similar technology to power the defunct HOTOL Project.

Whilst the title is not mine it is also not inaccurate.

As neither HOTOL nor it's engine were ever built the worlds first air breathing rocket has still to fly, after all Robert Goddard is credited with building the first liquid fuelled rocket, even though Tsiolkovsky had proposed it three decades earlier.

[Grandpa Greenman]

Up up and away UK. I don't care who goes to space lets just go....

[Dark_Grey]

Up up and away UK. I don't care who goes to space lets just go....

YES!

[Oppono Astos]

Very local interest, just hope this finally comes to fruition.