British aerospace company claims biggest engine advance since the jet
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Re: British aerospace company claims biggest engine advance since the jet
#2Sounds like quite a disruptive innovation in the aerospace industry. Always wondered how much it cost to get innovations like this off the ground. $400m funding round sounds pretty serious...
Re: British aerospace company claims biggest engine advance since the jet
#3Sounds like quite a disruptive innovation in the aerospace industry. Always wondered how much it cost to get innovations like this off the ground. $400m funding round sounds pretty serious...
Enough to start a rocket company.
(Maybe not a hybrid air-breathing SSTO company.)
Re: British aerospace company claims biggest engine advance since the jet
#4I'll maybe believe it when I learn more. That it's an idea on paper only means it's way too early to tell. I'm also wondering if they are relying on exotic building materials being developed in the future for this to work, like a previous expensive but failed US space-plane program.
Re: British aerospace company claims biggest engine advance since the jet
#5Elon Musk was specifically asked about this technology when he was at Martin School last week. He didn't hear about it, but he seemed skeptical that it would work better than rockets. His response here:
http://youtu.be/c1HZIQliuoA?t=48m55s
SpaceX might still be the first one with a re-usable rocket if they finish the Raptor engine in 3 years. Plus, his could actually be used to land on Mars, while this can only be useful where you still have atmosphere and oxygen - so only for launches to orbit.
But it's great to see more private companies competing in this area. And even if nothing comes out of it for space travel, it might still turn out be a useful technology for airplanes.
Re: British aerospace company claims biggest engine advance since the jet
#6Article from the BCC at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20510112
Re: British aerospace company claims biggest engine advance since the jet
#7I think the first article I read about Sabre was on HN so it's nice to see it getting followed up.
The technology sounds like it's progressing, even if parts of it are still heavily conceptual, and getting a sign off from the ESA is quite a big step (even if certain space company founders have dissed them recently). The last I read was they were struggling to find funding, which is on one hand utterly surprising as if it works properly then it's got the potential to revolutionise travel and who wouldn't like to say "yeah, I put money in before they were famous", and on the other isn't a surprise at all as the returns are probably a decade out.
Still, I wait patiently and optimistically for when Britain is showing everyone that whilst we were slow off the mark on the space race we aren't out of it yet.
Re: British aerospace company claims biggest engine advance since the jet
#8Unfortunate title here - British Aerospace was involved in the project some years ago, but Reaction Engines is a distinct company and I believe they exist despite BAe's "assistance"
Re: British aerospace company claims biggest engine advance since the jet
#9Sounds like quite a disruptive innovation in the aerospace industry. Always wondered how much it cost to get innovations like this off the ground. $400m funding round sounds pretty serious...
That's the blind, the bet required to play, in aerospace, it's not a lot of money at all by their standards.
Re: British aerospace company claims biggest engine advance since the jet
#10I'll maybe believe it when I learn more. That it's an idea on paper only means it's way too early to tell. I'm also wondering if they are relying on exotic building materials being developed in the future for this to work, like a previous expensive but failed US space-plane program.
The critical part (the cooling mechanism) has been fabricated, and validated in tests.