| The Technology Demonstration Programme started in February 2009 and has the objective of validating the key technologies of the SABRE engine. The programme is funded in part by the European Space Agency and in part by private investment.
The programme consists of three principal activities:
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Demonstration of the feasibility of deep pre-cooling using a representative pre-cooler in a realistic operating environment.
Reaction Engines Ltd are in the process of building a scaled version of the SABRE pre-cooler which will be tested in the Company’s B9 test facility. This pre-cooler will be a high-performance, state-of-the-art heat exchanger employing superalloys and advanced manufacturing processes. It will consist of over 16,000 tubes and be capable of cooling air to around -150°C in a fraction of a second. |
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Demonstration that combustion chamber cooling using liquid oxygen (LOX) and air is safe and practical.
This activity is being performed under contract to Reaction Engines Ltd by Astrium GmbH and the German Space Agency (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt) and will culminate in the test firing of two representative combustion chambers. Cooling using LOX and air (as opposed to the more conventional approach of using liquid hydrogen) is important because the liquid hydrogen is used in the heat exchanger to cool the incoming air to the SABRE engine and is not available for combustion chamber cooling. |
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Operation of a specially designed pressure-compensating nozzle.
This activity, which is being performed by the University of Bristol for Reaction Engines Ltd, will demonstrate the stable operation of a nozzle configuration which may also be able to operate efficiently at varying atmospheric pressure. Such a feature is especially important for a spaceplane since the engines and nozzles must operate over a much wider altitude (and hence pressure) range than conventional rocket engines. |
Throughout 2009 most of the effort has been focussed on the design of the pre-cooler and the development of the equipment for manufacturing the many thousands of tubes required for its construction.
During 2010 manufacture of the pre-cooler will commence with construction of the first modules expected towards the end of the first quarter. The pre-cooler will be completed by the end of 2010 ready for testing in 2011. In parallel the activities on the combustion chamber cooling and nozzle demonstration are expected to be completed by the end of 2011. A new activity will involve testing small scale intakes capable of closing for re-entry under Mach 5 ascent conditions.
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