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Reaction Engines To Fly Reusable Spaceplane

Posted by timothy on from the let's-just-start-here-on-the-ground dept.

RobGoldsmith writes "Reaction Engines have designed a 'reusable spaceplane' to provide inexpensive and reliable access to space. The Star Wars-looking 'Skylon' reusable spaceplane has already been designed and the team are well into engine testing. They have taken some time out from building spaceships to talk about their background, their goals, and their recent engine tests. This article shows new images of their STERN Engine, an experimental rocket motor which explores the flow in Expansion Deflection (ED) nozzles. They also discuss their Sabre air-breathing engine technology. View the Skylon Spaceplane concept, the STERN Engine and much more in this in-depth interview with the team."

4 of 156 comments (clear)

  1. Did anyone else misread the title? by Amazing+Quantum+Man · · Score: 5, Informative

    Reaction Engines is the name of the company. It's using conventional LOX/LH2 engines.

    And for those who are calling this Shuttle 2.0, it's unmanned.

    --
    Fascism starts when the efficiency of the government becomes more important than the rights of the people.
    1. Re:Did anyone else misread the title? by Hal_Porter · · Score: 3, Informative

      They are anything but conventional. They run as an precooled jet engine upto Mach 5.5 breathing air from the atmosphere and then close an inlet and run as a rocket using onboard liquid oxygen as an oxidizer.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaction_Engines_SABRE

      --
      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
  2. Re:Dollars per kg? by denzacar · · Score: 5, Informative

    From http://www.reactionengines.co.uk/skylon_dev.html :

    The total development program will cost about $10 billion.

    Also... http://www.reactionengines.co.uk/skylon_vehicle.html

    Skylon Statistics

    Length: 82m
    Fuselage Diameter: 6.25m
    Wingspan: 25m
    Unladen Mass: 41,000kg
    Fuel Mass: 220,000kg
    Maximum Payload Mass: 12,000kg

    At the start of the take-off roll the vehicle weighs 275 tonnes, whilst maximum landing weight is 55 tonnes.
    At take-off the vehicle carries approximately 66 tonnes of liquid hydrogen and approximately 150 tonnes of liquid oxygen for the ascent.
    .
    .
    .
    Payload Capabilities

    The Sklyon payload bay is 4.6m diameter and 12.3m long. It has been designed to be compatible with expendable launcher payloads but in addition to accept standard aero transport containers which are 8 foot square in cross section and 10, 20, 30 or 40 feet long.
    It is anticipated that cargo containerisation will be an important step forward in space transport operations, enabling the "clean" payload bay to be dispensed with.

    The vehicle can deliver 12 tonnes to a 300km equatorial orbit, 10.5 tonnes to a 460km equatorial spacestation or 9.5 tonnes to a 460km x 28.5 deg spacestation when operating from an equatorial site.

    You do the per flight math.

    --
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  3. Re:I see... by RocketGeek · · Score: 4, Informative

    Then you may need to work on your reading :-)

    The precooler tests were run separate to the thrust tests. The thrust tests were related to the ED nozzle work.

    As for the reliability, well when I wrote the test plan for the ED nozzle test engine, I can assure you, that reliability was very much part of the plan.

    As for you not seeing any prototype being tested, note the photograph of a rocket shaped object with hot flame coming out of it in the News section?

    I'm sorry the photograph isn't any better, but none of us were prepared to step outside the bunker during the hot firings. I'm working on improving the photos taken during test runs.