Key tests
for Skylon spaceplane project
(April 27, 2012) UK
engineers have begun critical tests on a new engine technology designed to lift
a spaceplane into orbit.
The
proposed Skylon vehicle would operate like an airliner, taking off and landing
at a conventional runway.
Its major
innovation is the Sabre engine, which can breathe air like a jet at lower
speeds but switch to a rocket mode in the high atmosphere.
Reaction
Engines Limited (REL) believes the test campaign will prove the readiness of
Sabre's key elements.
This being
so, the firm would then approach investors to raise the £250m needed to take
the project into the final design phase.
"We
intend to go to the Farnborough International Air Show in July with a clear
message," explained REL managing director Alan Bond.
"The
message is that Britain has the next step beyond the jet engine; that we can
reduce the world to four hours - the maximum time it would take to go anywhere.
And that it also gives us aircraft that can go into space, replacing all the
expendable rockets we use today."