Reaction Engines

A major player in aerospace innovation has bitten the dust. Reaction Engines, a developer of hypersonic engine technology since 1989, has gone into administration and its closure is having an impact on the hypersonic weapons program of Britain and others.

Reaction Engines has built a precooler for its SABRE engine that can chill a hypersonic airstream from 1,000 °C to -150 °C in 1/20th of a second. Now it's doing tests with the USAF and DoD to prove it can upgrade other existing jets to handle Mach 4.

The UK's Reaction Engines has announced the details of a joint venture to create its compact, lightweight ammonia reactor intended to decarbonize difficult sectors like shipping and off-grid energy generation – and surprisingly, also aviation.

Reaction Engines and Britain's Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) have completed a concept study into the practicality of using ammonia as a sustainable, low-emission jet aviation fuel.

Reaction Engines's Synergetic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine (SABRE) engine has passed a major milestone, as a key component handled conditions equivalent to an airspeed of Mach 5 (3,704 mph, 5,961 km/h).

Reaction Engine's Synergetic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine (SABRE) comes closer to reality as ESA and the UK Space Agency (UKSA) green light the preliminary design of the hypersonic demonstrator engine core designed to act as both a jet and a rocket.

Hypersonic travel, and even a new type of orbital launcher, has come closer to reality after Boeing and Rolls-Royce today announced substantial investments in the British advanced propulsion systems company Reaction Engines Limited.

Reaction Engines' Synergistic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine (SABRE) has the potential to be an aeronautical game-changer by providing single-stage-to-orbit launch capabilities. Construction has now begun on the facility that will be used to conduct the ground test of SABRE's engine cycle.

Reaction Engines' single-stage-to-orbit Skylon spacecraft took a step closer to reality today as BAE Systems announced that it would buy a 20 percent stake in the company.

The British government announced on Tuesday that it has authorized an investment of £60 million in Reaction Engine Ltd’s Skylon spaceplane after a successful feasibility test managed by the European Space Agency.

Reaction Engines Ltd. announced on Wednesday the completion of a critical round of testing of its SABRE engine’s precooler system.

Reaction Engines has announced that is has successfully tested the key pre-cooler component of its revolutionary SABRE engine crucial to the development of its SKYLON spaceplane.