ESA Invests In Skylon Spaceplane Project
Posted on: Thursday, 19 February 2009, 11:10 CST
The European Space Agency (ESA) on Thursday announced a deal with Reaction Engines Ltd that will invest £900,000 ($1,291,000) in the development of core technologies for its Skylon reusable runway space shuttle.
The firm said it hopes to see reusable spaceplanes fly within 10 years.
“Traditional throw-away rockets costing more than a $100 million per launch are a drag on the growth of this market. The Holy Grail to transform the economics of getting into space is to use a truly reusable spaceplane capable of taking off from an airport and climbing directly into space, delivering its satellite payload and automatically returning safely to Earth,” said Alan Bond, Managing Director of Reaction Engines.
“Years of planning and research by REL on the SKYLON vehicle and its unique SABRE engine mean that we have an inside track on realizing this goal. SKYLON could reduce the cost of getting into space by a factor of ten and improve the reliability by a thousand.”
Reaction said the demonstration program will study three areas of the engine: the pre-cooler for incoming air, the cooling of the combustion chamber, and advanced exhaust nozzles that can adapt to the ambient atmospheric pressure.
Skylon burns hydrogen and oxygen for thrust. Its Sabre propulsion system uses a heat exchanger that pre-cools the 1,000 degree gasses entering its intake.
Intake gases go from scorching hot to minus 130C in 100th of a second.
According to BBC News, Reaction intends to use the ESA money to build a full test pre-cooler at its facility at Culham.
“This is an example of a British company developing world beating technology with exciting consequences for the future of space,” said Lord Drayson, UK Minister for Science and Innovation.
"It is fantastic that Reaction Engines, the British National Space Center and ESA have successfully secured this public-private partnership arrangement," said Drayson.
---
Image Caption: Skylon in Orbit. Courtesy Reaction Engines Ltd
---
On the Net:
Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports
Related Articles
- ESA Unveils Smallest Ever Space Engine
- ESA creates smallest space engine
- Aerojet Develops Innovative Reaction Control Engine Technology for NASA's Exploration Program
- The Lights Will Stay on at Empty Space ; Theater's Funding Effort Tops $400,000
- Display Rockets Boys into Outer Space Two Cousins Are Among a Projected 8,000 Visitors at the International Space Station Exhibit at Septemberfest.
- Be Careful Which Floor You Choose to Get Off ; Elevator to Space Ride on a Nanotube Cable, 62,000 Miles Long
- Russian Space Engineers Eager to Join U.S. in Mars Plans
- Russia Space Engineers Eager to Join U.S.
- European space engineers position Mars Express to drop probe toward
- Space Engineering Helps Drill Better Holes in Planet Earth
 |
 |
User Comments (1)
| 1. |
Posted by nobodysaysBOO on 02/22/2009, 10:40 things are looking more and more likely that nasa NEVER went anywhere near the moon just studio crap! I hope the brits are better than the stupid americans! |
RSS Feeds