Tubby Beaver 209 Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 British company claims biggest engine advance since the jet ONDON (Reuters) - A small British company with a dream of building a re-usable space plane has won an important endorsement from the European Space Agency (ESA) after completing key tests on its novel engine technology. Reaction Engines Ltd believes its Sabre engine, which would operate like a jet engine in the atmosphere and a rocket in space, could displace rockets for space access and transform air travel by bringing any destination on Earth to no more than four hours away. That ambition was given a boost on Wednesday by ESA, which has acted as an independent auditor on the Sabre test program. "ESA are satisfied that the tests demonstrate the technology required for the Sabre engine development," the agency's head of propulsion engineering Mark Ford told a news conference. "One of the major obstacles to a re-usable vehicle has been removed," he said. "The gateway is now open to move beyond the jet age." The space plane, dubbed Skylon, only exists on paper. What the company has right now is a remarkable heat exchanger that is able to cool air sucked into the engine at high speed from 1,000 degrees Celsius to minus 150 degrees in one hundredth of a second. This core piece of technology solves one of the constraints that limit jet engines to a top speed of about 2.5 times the speed of sound, which Reaction Engines believes it could double. SHROUDED IN SECRECY With the Sabre engine in jet mode, the air has to be compressed before being injected into the engine's combustion chambers. Without pre-cooling, the heat generated by compression would make the air hot enough to melt the engine. The challenge for the engineers was to find a way to cool the air quickly without frost forming on the heat exchanger, which would clog it up and stop it working. Using a nest of fine pipes that resemble a large wire coil, the engineers have managed to get round this fatal problem that would normally follow from such rapid cooling of the moisture in atmospheric air. They are tight-lipped on exactly how they managed to do it. "We are not going to tell you how this works," said the company's chief designer Richard Varvill, who started his career at the military engine division of Rolls-Royce. "It is our most closely guarded secret." The company has deliberately avoided filing patents on its heat exchanger technology to avoid details of how it works - particularly the method for preventing the build-up of frost - becoming public. The Sabre engine could take a plane to five times the speed of sound and an altitude of 25 km, about 20 percent of the speed and altitude needed to reach orbit. For space access, the engines would then switch to rocket mode to do the remaining 80 percent. IT COULD EVEN MAKE THE TEA Reaction Engines believes Sabre is the only engine of its kind in development and the company now needs to raise about 250 million pounds ($400 million) to fund the next three-year development phase in which it plans to build a small-scale version of the complete engine. Chief executive Tim Hayter believes the company could have an operational engine ready for sale within 10 years if it can raise the development funding. The company reckons the engine technology could win a healthy chunk of four key markets together worth $112 billion a year, including space access, hypersonic air travel, and modified jet engines that use the heat exchanger to save fuel. The fourth market is unrelated to aerospace. Reaction Engines believes the technology could also be used to raise the efficiency of so-called multistage flash desalination plants by 15 percent. These plants, largely in the Middle East, use heat exchangers to distil water by flash heating sea water into steam in multiple stages. The firm has so far received 90 percent of its funding from private sources, mainly rich individuals including chairman Nigel McNair Scott, the former mining industry executive who also chairs property developer Helical Bar. Chief executive Tim Hayter told Reuters he would welcome government investment in the company, mainly because of the credibility that would add to the project. But the focus will be on raising the majority of the 250 million pounds it needs now from a mix of institutional investors, high net worth individuals and possibly potential partners in the aerospace industry. STANDING START Sabre produces thrust by burning hydrogen and oxygen, but inside the atmosphere it would take that oxygen from the air, reducing the amount it would have to carry in fuel tanks for rocket mode, cutting weight and allowing Skylon to go into orbit in one stage. Scramjets on test vehicles like the U.S. Air Force Waverider also use atmospheric air to create thrust but they have to be accelerated to their operating speed by normal jet engines or rockets before they kick in. The Sabre engine can operate from a standing start. If the developers are successful, Sabre would be the first engine in history to send a vehicle into space without using disposable, multi-stage rockets. Skylon is years away, but in the meantime the technology is attracting interest from the global aerospace industry and governments because it effectively doubles the technical limits of current jet engines and could cut the cost of space access. The heat exchanger technology could also be incorporated into a new jet engine design that could cut 5 to 10 percent - or $10-20 billion - off airline fuel bills. That would be significant in an industry where incremental efficiency gains of one percent or so, from improvements in wing design for instance, are big news. Interesting.......that'd def make the horrible flight home much more bearable!! Obviously years and years off, but the heat exchanger tech is also interesting if its rolled out onto existing jet engines to cut fuel consumption.....we then SHOULD see that reflected in ticket prices Link to post Share on other sites
ippy 66 Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 isnt it utterly amazing that if you die soon you wont get to be on a planet where people nip out of the atmosphere to make routine flights around teh world. Not only do i have to suffer the annoyance of realising that we're on the cusp of doubling our lifespan (but it wont happen before im dead - or too old that id rather youjust shoot m in the face); but theres also so many technological advances just around the corner that will make us seem like monkeys with guns. Its amazing to think its our kids and their kids that will grow up with all this. It honestly blows my mind that i spent twenty two years on this planet without the internet. I lived in a time when shops closed early on a wednesday and sunday, and i actually saw this shit as a daily occurence in the school holidays. Sunday trading laws werent relaxed until well into my 20s if i remember right. The whole thing is mind boggling. Link to post Share on other sites
Alexander L 80 Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 Are you older than JA? Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted November 29, 2012 Author Share Posted November 29, 2012 why a Wednesday?? Yeah I saw that card on TV, I can JUST remember that BBC2 used to go off early evening. Also I lived for 17 years perfectly happy that I didn't need a telephone to carry around in my pocket, if I wanted to make illicit heavy petting trysts with various girls I had to use 10p and make the call from a pishy-smelling phone box that was a health hazard in more than just smell of urine.....those big cast iron boxes were death traps, chopping fingers off if you got your hand caught in the door. I laugh now when I think back at how supermarkets had to cover all the booze with bedsheets on a Sunday, as if even the mere sight of booze would send you spinning off to hell!! If I can't see it, it doesn't exist!! Link to post Share on other sites
Alexander L 80 Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 .....we then SHOULD see that reflected in ticket prices If it ever gets implemented, customers will be paying for the technology layout for years and years. But great advancement. Link to post Share on other sites
Chriselle 158 Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 Technology and logistics aside for a second.............a plane full of typical morons at zero gravity......what a circus. Link to post Share on other sites
NoFakie 45 Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 On that train of graphite and glitter Undersea by rail 90 minutes from New York to Paris Yes by '76 we'll be a-okay What a beautiful world this will be What a glorious time to be free Link to post Share on other sites
RobBright 35 Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 So I'd be taking off from Japan at 9am, but landing in the UK at 5am?! Head**** and a half there. Link to post Share on other sites
Alexander L 80 Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 extra sleep time. Link to post Share on other sites
NoFakie 45 Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 The big question is.... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Will they serve Kentucky Fried Chicken like Japan Airlines? Link to post Share on other sites
JA2340 16 Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 Are you older than JA? I doubt it Ain't no-one on here admits to being older than me! Link to post Share on other sites
Chriselle 158 Posted November 30, 2012 Share Posted November 30, 2012 Ya old farts...... Link to post Share on other sites
Alexander L 80 Posted November 30, 2012 Share Posted November 30, 2012 Rally? KFC on flights? Just imagine being trapped in that smell. Link to post Share on other sites
pie-eater 207 Posted November 30, 2012 Share Posted November 30, 2012 Link to post Share on other sites
JA2340 16 Posted November 30, 2012 Share Posted November 30, 2012 Rally? KFC on flights? Just imagine being trapped in that smell. Before or after consumption?? OR maybe BOTH! Link to post Share on other sites
HelperElfMissy 42 Posted November 30, 2012 Share Posted November 30, 2012 isnt it utterly amazing that if you die soon you wont get to be on a planet where people nip out of the atmosphere to make routine flights around teh world. Not only do i have to suffer the annoyance of realising that we're on the cusp of doubling our lifespan (but it wont happen before im dead - or too old that id rather youjust shoot m in the face); but theres also so many technological advances just around the corner that will make us seem like monkeys with guns. Its amazing to think its our kids and their kids that will grow up with all this. It honestly blows my mind that i spent twenty two years on this planet without the internet. I lived in a time when shops closed early on a wednesday and sunday, and i actually saw this shit as a daily occurence in the school holidays. Sunday trading laws werent relaxed until well into my 20s if i remember right. The whole thing is mind boggling. We've only just got Sunday trading (12-6) here in the sleepy old mining frontier of Perth... I also remember the test pattern. And the introduction of Internet. And when I cut and paste stuff into my assignments at Uni I literally CUT them with scissors and paste them in with glue! Link to post Share on other sites
Alexander L 80 Posted November 30, 2012 Share Posted November 30, 2012 at my first job, they used paper memos that would take days to get around the office. Link to post Share on other sites
Slippery Jim 65 Posted December 1, 2012 Share Posted December 1, 2012 Ain't no-one on here admits to being older than me! I resemble that remark! Link to post Share on other sites
JA2340 16 Posted December 2, 2012 Share Posted December 2, 2012 Ain't no-one on here admits to being older than me! I resemble that remark! Oh, alrighty, maybe one or two!! Link to post Share on other sites
Slippery Jim 65 Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 You're only too old when it gets too steep! Link to post Share on other sites
ProbablyaCrazyPerson 2 Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 That why everyone goes to Niseko? Link to post Share on other sites
JA2340 16 Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 OI!!! I'm off to Myoko Kogen in under a month!! Looking good, too! snow everywhere! Link to post Share on other sites
Alexander L 80 Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 That why everyone goes to Niseko? probably not Link to post Share on other sites
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