| A Brief History of Reaction Engines Limited
Alan Bond (Managing Director) began work on spaceplane engines in 1982 with a view to overcoming the inadequate characteristics of existing rocket-based expendable launch systems. This work culminated in the patenting of a new type of engine employing a novel thermodynamic cycle, whose characteristics were specifically tailored to the requirements of a single stage to orbit spaceplane. |
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| The emergence of this new engine coincided with studies being conducted at British Aerospace on future reusable launch vehicles and when evaluated within the context of this work proved far superior to alternatives and provided the impetus to initiate the joint BAe/Rolls Royce HOTOL project in 1985. The engine was designated the RB545 following purchase of the patent rights by Rolls Royce on the undertaking that they would turn the concept into reality. |  BAe/RR HOTOL spaceplane |
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| The project was supported by approximately £2M of UK government money and together with internal contributions from the industrial partners continued successfully until 1988 at which point the UK government declined further investment. Rolls Royce subsequently made a strategic decision to withdraw from the hypersonic and launcher propulsion field to concentrate their efforts on gas turbine and turbofan design.
It was in these circumstances that capitalising on the insight gained in the course of the HOTOL work Bond began studies to devise an engine cycle superior to the original, which was not covered by the patents held by Rolls Royce. This engine eventually evolved into the Sabre engine on Skylon. In the light of this development and in order to prevent the loss of the technology created during the HOTOL project, Reaction Engines Ltd was formed in August 1989 by Bond and the principal two engineers from Rolls Royce behind the RB545 programme, John Scott-Scott and Richard Varvill. |
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| Since 1989 Reaction Engines has devoted its resources to producing a robust technical design for Skylon and its Sabre engines while formulating a practical strategy to bring them into commercial production. The knowledge of the directors, their experience from the HOTOL studies and the huge advances in computers over the past decade, have made the demanding task of the preliminary design of SKYLON addressable by a small but highly expert team. In the past this would have been the remit of a large design group in a major aerospace company. |  RR RZ20 LOx/LH2 rocket firing |
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Although the preliminary design phase of Skylon is largely complete, the company continues to deepen the technical and economic aspects of the project. To this end the company has initiated a "Supportive Investigations" program of laboratory work to underpin its innovative designs. This work involves AEA Technology and Bristol, Kingston and York Universities, in the areas of aerothermodynamics, propulsion, structures and control technology. To date Reaction Engines has devoted about £5M to the Skylon project. This has been financed by directors' loans, share investment, and the sale of consultancy to third parties. In early 2001 a substantial private investment enabled the Company to setup offices at the Culham Science Centre and embark on an intensive program of research to demonstrate the heat exchanger technology crucial to the Sabre engine concept. The first part of this program (frost control technology) is now complete whilst the second part (manufacturing technology) is ongoing. Recently Reaction Engines has constructed a test site (B9) to demonstrate the precooler technology. This will entail operating a precooler in conjunction with a Viper jet engine. The Company continues to explore alternative outlets for its technology and to this end is currently engaged in a 3 year study for the EU (LAPCAT) to investigate the feasibility of an antipodal hypersonic civil transport. |
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