Hypersonic program in doubts following Reaction Engines bust
A key player in the development of hypersonic engines, Reaction Engines, has gone into administration. This is expected to have a significant impact on the development of hypersonic weapons of the UK as well as other nations.
Founded by Alan Bond, the lead engineer of the British Interplanetary Society’s Project Daedalus, and the designer of the British Aerospace HOTOL single-state-to-orbit spaceplane, Reaction Engines focused on advancing space propulsion systems. Its primary goal was to one day build the Skylon spaceplane, though it also worked in developing technology for customers that included the US Air Force.
Its Synergetic Air Breathing Rocket Engine (SABRE), used a regenerative cooling system that protects a hypersonic jet engine by instantly cooling the incoming air using liquid hydrogen. It attracted investors such as BAE Systems who bought 20% of Reaction Engines’ stock in 2015. It also saw funds coming from Boeing and Rolls-Royce, among others.
This year however, the company faced major financial difficulties thanks to unexpectedly slow growth along with an inability to secure an additional £150 million in funding. BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce were unwilling to bail it out.
On the 31st of October, Reaction Engines went into the hands of administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Its website now forwards to PwC where there is a notice saying that further information will be released to creditors while available assets are assessed. 173 of the company’s 208 staff were made redundant according to Sky News.
Reaction Engines was seen as a major player in the UK government’s £1 billion Hypersonic Technologies & Capabilities Development Framework program to built the nation’s first hypersonic missiles. The loss of SABRE technology will impede the program, causing the government to search for an alternative.
Its cooling technology had been used in more down-to-earth applications including a number of Formula 1 teams through Mercedes-Benz.
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