UK government making £60M investment in new hypersonic space engine

Plans for a next-generation jet engine/rocket hybrid have received a significant boost, with the UK government saying it will put in £60 million and aerospace giant BAE Systems announcing an investment of £20.6 million in Reaction Engines, the company behind the project .

Reaction Engines says its Sabre engine will take at least a decade to develop, but will cut the cost of launching satellites and could allow passengers to fly anywhere in the world in four hours.

According to the company, an aircraft using Sabre engines could take off from a runway and accelerate to more than five times the speed of sound, before switching to a rocket mode to propel the aircraft into space. In space, the aircraft would reach up to 25 times the speed of sound.

The funding, which will allow the Oxford-based company to build a demonstrator engine,  represents an important landmark in the transition of Reaction Engines from a company focused on the research and testing of enabling technologies to one “that is now focused on the development and testing of the world’s first Sabre engine,” said Mark Thomas, managing director.

The investment by BAE Systems, in return for a 20 per cent stake in Reaction Engines, is an important validation of the Sabre technology.

Nigel Whitehead, Group managing director of programmes and support with BAE Systems said it gives the aerospace company, “A strategic interest in a breakthrough air and space technology with significant future potential.”

The £60 million government grant will help transition the company from research to testing and eventual commercial applications. The company hopes to begin unmanned test flights by 2025.

There are at least three other private companies developing low-cost technologies for launching satellites. These are SpaceX, backed by Elon Musk, Blue Origin, financed by Amazon, and Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic.