Engineering news
BAE Systems is to buy a 20% share of aerospace technology company Reaction Engines for £20.6 million and will provide engineering support for the next phase of the company's hybrid rocket jet engine's development.
BAE System's £20.6 million investment acquires it 20% of Reaction Engines. Under the agreement the defence firm will provide “critical industrial, technical and capital resources” to help the company develop its first ground-based test engine. BAE Systems also become's Reaction Engines preferred supplier and will have representation on the company's board.
Reaction Engines has been developing its “Synergetic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine" (Sabre) since 1989 to enable aircraft to travel directly into Earth orbit.
The Sabre engine combines jet turbine and rocket technology and is fuelled by oxygen and hydrogen. The engine is designed to work in two stages. An air-breathing mode from take-off to Mach 5 sucks in atmospheric oxygen like a typical jet engine, to burn with the hydrogen fuel. Once above the atmosphere, Sabre switches to conventional rocket mode and uses on-board liquid oxygen.
The government announced £60 million of funding for Reaction Engines in 2013 - £35 million for 2014-15 and £25 million in 2015-16. The company said at the time of the announcement it required £360 million to fully develop Sabre.
A prototype Sabre engine is expected to be completed by 2017, with flight tests due to start in 2020. The engine will then be used on 'Skylon', a reusable spaceplane Reaction Engines is also developing that will be able to carry payloads of up to 15 tonnes into orbit cheaper than current launch methods.
Mark Thomas, managing director of Reaction Engines, said: “Today's announcement represents an important landmark in the transition of Reaction Engines from a company focussed on enabling technologies to one that is focussed on the development of the world's first Sabre engine.”
Nigel Whitehead, group managing director programmes and support at BAE Systems, said: “Our collaboration gives BAE Systems a strategic interest in a breakthrough air and space technology with significant future potential. Our considerable engineering and development expertise will help support the delivery of the first demonstrator.”
Sabre's pre-cooler technology
Key to the successful operation of Sabre is the engine's 'pre-cooler' lightweight heat-exchanger technology, which is designed to cool the incoming airstream from over 1,000°C to -150°C in less than 1/100th of a second without blocking with frost. The cooling is needed to allow the compression of air before it is injected into the combustion chamber during Sabre's jet engine stage, the so-called “air-breathing mode”.
The air-breathing mode will enable the reduction of the amount of heavy liquid oxygen an aircraft has to carry. The weight reduction will dramatically lower fuel consumption and enable Skylon to be designed as a conventional, reusable aircraft.
Engineers at Reaction Engines have been has been focussed on the testing and development of the pre-cooler, a first-of-its-kind assembly of very thin tubing made from inconel 718, a strong and highly corrosion-resistant alloy. A demonstration pre-cooler has been running in front of a Viper jet engine at the company's facilities at Culham, Oxfordshire since 2012, to help improve its performance.
Reaction Engine's has said the next development steps will be wind-tunnel and flight testing of other Sabre components, followed by a ground demonstration of the engine by 2017, and flight tests around 2020.
More information on Sabre's development can be found in this article here and this video presentation featuring Reaction Engines' founding director Alan Bond.