Skylon, a 276-foot long unpiloted aircraft that would take off and land horizontally, and cost about $1.1 billion to build powered by sabre engine can fly anywhere on Earth in just 4 hours. The UK will invest £60 million ($91.2 million) into this project to build Skylon aircraft that would fly in outer space and make it possible to take hundreds of passengers anywhere in the world in just four hours.
The investment, announced Wednesday, is being made through the UK Space Agency. It will help British aerospace firm Reaction Engines develop a rocket engine that can run at higher power than what is possible today, based on new technology called The Precooler.
More power means it can fly faster — as fast as Mach 5, chief engineer Alan Bond.
The £60 million will be given to the company in two stages: £35 million in 2014/2015, and £25 million in 2015/2016. It will be used to for technical design work, and improving lightweight heat exchanger technology.
Reaction Engines says the heat exchanger, which rapidly cools hot air entering the engine and passed “vital tests” in November 2012, is the first that is light and efficient enough to be used for space travel.
The project has already passed a UK Space Agency technical assessment, Reaction Engines said in a press release, and test flights are planned for 2020. The company says the next phase of development will create about 1,000 engineering and technology jobs, and 2,000 more jobs “in the wider economy.”
The company eventually hopes to use its cooling technology to build a plane that transports 300 passengers and flies like a rocket. It will “transform high-speed aviation,” Bond says, adding, “we have no competitors. We are unique.”
The company is currently in the process of testing the system. Test flights of the Skylon are planned for 2019.
Mr. Alen Bond Interview
Skylon is not a plane, but a spaceplane concept that is designed to take off and land from a conventional runway, like an airplane, but fly at hypersonic speeds to reach space. The Skylon concept was developed by a British company called Reaction Engines Limited (REL).
The Skylon spaceplane would be powered by a revolutionary engine called SABRE (Synergetic Air Breathing Rocket Engine), which uses both air-breathing and rocket propulsion technologies. At lower speeds, the SABRE engine would work as a jet engine, using atmospheric air as fuel. At higher speeds and altitudes, it would switch to a rocket mode, using liquid hydrogen and oxygen as fuel. This dual-mode capability allows Skylon to achieve speeds up to Mach 5.5 (5.5 times the speed of sound) and reach orbit.
One of the key advantages of Skylon is that it would be fully reusable, unlike traditional rockets that are discarded after each launch. This would significantly reduce the cost of spaceflight and make it more accessible to a wider range of people and organizations.
Skylon’s capabilities could potentially revolutionize the way we approach space travel and exploration. For example, it could be used to transport astronauts and cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) in a more cost-effective and efficient manner. It could also be used for scientific missions, such as studying the Earth’s atmosphere or exploring other planets in our solar system.
However, it’s important to note that Skylon is still a concept and has not yet been built or tested. Development of the SABRE engine is ongoing, and there are many technical challenges that need to be overcome before Skylon can become a reality. Nonetheless, the Skylon concept is an exciting vision for the future of space exploration and travel.