USAF + UK's R.E.L. for SABRE SSTO/hypersonic engine

[DocM]

Only for LEO ops wherd payloads are <30 tonnes, the upper limit of a Skylon like design. Deep space and massive payloads will still be the domain of large vertical launchers and electric propulsion.

SABRE may have a use on them as an air breathing vertical reusable booster or flyback engine, or the heat exchanger could be used in an air-augmented rocket*, but not as a pure runway launcher.

* https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air-augmented_rocket

[FloatingFatMan]

Only for LEO ops wherd payloads are <30 tonnes, the upper limit of a Skylon like design. Deep space and massive payloads will still be the domain of large vertical launchers and electric propulsion.

SABRE may have a use on them as an air breathing vertical reusable booster or flyback engine, or the heat exchanger could be used in an air-augmented rocket*, but not as a pure runway launcher.

* https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air-augmented_rocket

 

But that's just it, LEO is as far as you need to go in an Earth based ship. From there, you build IN space FOR space.  You're freed from all the restrictions placed on your ship design by the need for launching it on a rocket and can design purely for space flight.  Hell, stick a bunch of large  Bigelow modules together, put some thrusters on it for steering and propulsion, and there's a basic ship right there with a crapload of space.

 

You then dock your SABRE vehicle to the space ship and use it as a landing craft later, assuming you're going somewhere the engine can function, or if not, use more conventional rocket systems like Dragon 2 and leave the SABRE powered ship as purely an Earth shuttle.

 

Payload I see as less of a problem.. 30t might be a limit now, but I doubt it'll stay a limit for too long. One they get SABRE type engines running as a practical application, improvements will be made to increase thrust and lifting capacity.

 

I know it's a movie/book, but take a look at 2001: A Space Odyssey. Clarke had how it should be done spot on from the start.  Ground to station via shuttle from regular airport. Station to elsewhere by space only vessel.

[DocM]

But that's just it, LEO is as far as you need to go in an Earth based ship. From there, you build IN space FOR space.

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Hell, stick a bunch of large Bigelow modules together

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Payload I see as less of a problem.. 30t might be a limit now, but I doubt it'll stay a limit for too long.

30t would be for an evolved Gen-II/III Skylon. Initially it's D series payload capacity is 15-17t, which overall is less than Falcon 9 v1.1 much less v1.2. Cargo, or a crew module (not both), also have to fit inside its 4.8x13m payload bay.

Falcon 9 v1.1

Mass: 16.8t

Falcon 9 v1.2

Mass: ~21t

Falcon Heavy

Mass: ~40-65t (varies by configuration)

BFR

~200-300t (latest estimates)

Skylon 4.8x13m

Mass 15-17t

BA-330: 6.7x13.7m

Mass: 20t + core cargo

BA-2100: 12.6x17.8m

Mass: 65-70t + core cargo

[FloatingFatMan]

TBH, I'm less excited by Skylon as I am by the SABRE engine itself.  Skylon's just one ship, SABRE can be used in loads of places.

[DocM]

That's true. The precooler tech has so many possibilities it's almost giddy-giggle inducing. I could see 6-8 chamber SABRE dual modes, air-augmented rockets or precooler equipped aircraft engines for SSTs or military use. There are even ground-based applications.

Revolutionary.

[Unobscured Vision]

30t would be for an evolved Gen-II/III Skylon. Initially it's D series payload capacity is 15-17t, which overall is less than Falcon 9 v1.1 much less v1.2. Cargo, or a crew module (not both), also have to fit inside its 4.8x13m payload bay.

Falcon 9 v1.1

Mass: 16.8t

Falcon 9 v1.2

Mass: ~21t

Falcon Heavy

Mass: ~40-65t (varies by configuration)

BFR

~200-300t (latest estimates)

Skylon 4.8x13m

Mass 15-17t

BA-330: 6.7x13.7m

Mass: 20t + core cargo

BA-2100: 12.6x17.8m

Mass: 65-70t + core cargo

 

That's true, but if you can haul 15-17t to the ISS without using an expensive rocket, turn around in 15 days and do it again with a huge safety margin and without waste (stages, etc), that's true progress and I applaud the breakthrough.

 

Gotta hand it to the Brits ... creative Engineering at its' very best.

[FloatingFatMan]

Gotta hand it to the Brits ... creative Engineering at its' very best.

 

 

Well, y'know.. We invented the jet engine... We couldn't very well let anyone top us on that, could we?

[DocM]

Brits may have perfected the jet engine, but that was based on work done by Albert Fon

[Draggendrop Veteran]

And the "father of the gas turbine is considered to be AEgidius Elling, 

 

Jens William

[FloatingFatMan]

I can post wiki links too.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Whittle

 

He is credited with single-handedly inventing the turbojet engine. A patent was submitted by Maxime Guillaume in 1921 for a similar invention; however, this was technically unfeasible at the time. Whittle's jet engines were developed some years earlier than those of Germany's Dr. Hans von Ohain who was the designer of the first operational jet engine to power an aircraft.

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Really.....have a nice day........

[Unobscured Vision]

Gentlemen ... and Ladies (if present) ... and various Transgendered Precious Ones (if present) ... we're all working in the same direction -- Progress.

 

The British Team are to be congratulated for the achievement, and the British People have another milestone to be proud of. That we can all agree on, I'm sure.

[DocM]

Ground test concept

 

 

Air-breathing Sabre Concept Gains Credibility

Reaction Engines focuses on Sabre demonstrator plan as interest grows in air-breather

It is a well-established truism in aerospace that leaps in propulsion technology almost always precede major advances in spacecraft or aircraft design.
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Such an engine could power high-speed aircraft, suborbital craft or even multi- and single-stage-to-orbit vehicles. Even more encouraging to Sabre proponents is that, while earlier attempts to harvest oxygen from the atmosphere succumbed to thermodynamic reality, the Reaction design continues to pass muster with experts in Europe and the U.S. The companys most recentand possibly most valuablevote of confidence comes from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), which analyzed Sabre under a cooperative research and development agreement.

AFRLs validation followed a detailed study of the entire concept, particularly the precooler heat exchanger technology, which allows for the practical extraction of oxygen from the air without clogging up the mechanism with frost and ice. Reaction unveiled initial details of the methanol-based frost-control system at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Hypersonics and Spaceplanes conference in Glasgow in early July.

AFRL program manager Barry Hellman says analysis confirmed the feasibility and potential performance of the Sabre engine cycle. While development of the Sabre represents a substantial engineering challenge, the engine cycle is a very innovative approach and warrants further investigation. As a result, Reaction Engines and AFRL plan to continue collaborating on Sabre, with potential follow-on work focusing on evaluation of various air-breathing-powered vehicle concepts and testing of specific engine components.

The AFRL study will also evaluate other potential uses for the Sabres heat exchanger technologies, including looking at broader defense applications. The question to answer next is what benefit the Sabre could bring to high-speed aerospace vehicles compared to other propulsion systems, says Hellman. AFRL is analyzing vehicle designs based on the Sabre engine concept. We are also considering testing their heat-exchanger technology at Mach 5 flight conditions in a high-temperature wind tunnel.

While AFRL acknowledges that Sabres original target a single-stage-to-orbit space access vehicle dubbed Skylonremains technically very risky as a first application, Hellman says: Sabre may provide some unique advantages in more manageable two-stage-to-orbit configurations.

Reaction Engines agrees. From our perspective there is no cheap, quick way around the problem of space access. Weve done studies and we agree that [a] sensible second-stage approach might be best to demonstrate the technology by taking it one step at a time, says Sam Hutchison, director of corporate development at Reaction Engines.
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Enough people now say the Sabre cycle works and it looks compelling. Now the question is what will we do with it? says Hutchison. As an engine class, it straddles both air and space, so we have to optimize a system to take advantage of that for a given application. As we structure the development plan going forward, we can figure out what the first use is going to be. So over the next six months we will be closing in on that application.

A big part of the strategy is anchored on the successful test of a full-scale Block 1 ground demonstrator engine at the companys facility at the Culham Science Center in Oxfordshire, England. Right now we are in the process of scoping that demonstration engine in terms of what it needs to achieve, says Hutchison. The key thing is to tick the boxes in every area it needs to tick. It is all about making sure the demonstrator meets the performance requirements that are set for it. We want to make sure it really works and offers the sort of performance that we say it can do. Were still in that phase. The studies are in their infancy for the engine demonstrator but we have got to make sure were not biting off too much more than we can chew.

A target date of 2018-19 for the first full engine to test is within reach for the demonstrator, he says.

Ground testing of the high-Mach-number Sabre cycle is feasible, says Hutchison, because the engine uses the atmosphere as the source of its energy and the reaction mass. And because of the clever heat-exchanger technology, we can modulate the air so the turbomachinery in the engine doesnt know it is on the ground. Higher-velocity air is simulated by heating the air flow and, as the temperature of the air entering the engine is ambient, we can simulate that on the ground all the way from Mach 0 to Mach 5, he says. In addition, inlet tests will be conducted in wind tunnels to evaluate flow conditions.

Funding also remains secure, says Hutchison. We are in the process of finalizing the terms of the U.K. governments £60 million ($93.6 million) grant and, in addition, we did a very successful financing round last year. We have no short-term financial shortfalls and as we move forward on bringing in partners, we will seek to raise additional financing where necessary.

After AFRLs validation Reaction seems increasingly confident as it transitions from a research-focused company to a production-focused company, he adds. Everyone said it couldnt be done, and in 2012 we did it. We ended up with an engine that on paper has six times better fuel consumption than a rocket engine.

[Draggendrop Veteran]

I really like this concept but have a few lingering thoughts....

1) Could this engine eventually be used in a winged transport to get a crew off the runway and to a LEO station.

2) How will the restart capability and throttleability be, in a space environment. (besides thruster's)

3) Can this engine function well at, and below mach 1, in air and in space, in an efficient manner.

//  It appears that a high mach number has to be thrown around all the time, when I feel that innovative uses will not nessessarily preclude excessive velocities.

// If this engine can be proven efficient and be throttled well, there may be a way to adapt this to VTOL (lunar landing), if so, it would enable full transport from an earth runway to a lunar station.

Thoughts?.....Cheers....

[DocM]

The atmospheric winged hypersonic passenger vehicle reference design is called A2. Its engine is called SCIMITAR, a precooler and turbocompressor fed (sort of) bypass ramjet. This is the engine the USAF probably wants. Mach 5+.

The SKYLON can  take a piloted  crew cabin in place  of its cargo bay. 

A SABRE powered SKYLON could start at zero feet and velocity, do the runway rollout & takeoff.  Subsonic all the way to orbit, switching from airbreathing to LOX on the fly. 

The "thrusters" are staged combustion rocket engines, and that engine type has been throttled to 10% with a hydrogen Isp of 465.5 (RL-10). It don't get much better.

 

[Unobscured Vision]

Nice. Can't wait to read about how well it performs in testing. Hope they release some footage like they do with SSME and Merlin Engines during hot-fire tests at Stennis ... always enjoy the long clips. Bag of popcorn and a sports drink in hand, then kick back whilst the fireworks commence.

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Nice. Can't wait to read about how well it performs in testing. Hope they release some footage like they do with SSME and Merlin Engines during hot-fire tests at Stennis ... always enjoy the long clips. Bag of popcorn and a sports drink in hand, then kick back whilst the fireworks commence.

They could get real world testing by giving one to John Force, create a whole new class of NHRA "funny cars".....we can call them "grin sleds"...Cheers...

[DocM]

The EU is investing $77m

http://www.parabolicarc.com/2015/08/27/eu-77-million-sabre-engine/

EU Provides $77 Million for SABRE Engine R&D

BRUSSELS, Belgium (EC PR) — The European Commission has found that a £50 million (around €71 million) grant that the UK authorities intend to provide for designing a SABRE space launcher engine is in line with EU state aid rules.

SABRE is a research and development (R&D) project carried out by UK company Reaction Engines Limited (REL). The project aims to develop an engine that would power a reusable airframe to launch satellites into low Earth orbit, significantly reducing the costs of such space missions.

The Commission found that the measure fosters aerospace R&D in Europe while limiting distortions of competition in the Single Market.

Commissioner in charge of competition policy Margrethe Vestager commented: “I am glad that we have approved public funding for the SABRE project. It supports crucial R&D in the challenging area of satellite launches into low Earth orbit – the most difficult and costly step in any space mission. It can lead to significant technological advances that would benefit consumers using products and services depending on these satellites, such as mobile communications, broadcasting, and navigation.”
The UK notified plans in January 2015 to support the SABRE project for the design, engineering and assembling of key engine components for integration in a new type of space launcher.

The new engine would enable a vehicle to reach orbital velocity and altitude from the Earth’s surface without jettisoning any hardware. The objective is to render the technology less risky by significantly improving each of SABRE’s numerous components and subsystems.

If successful, the engine would be used to power the prototype of a reusable airframe, SKYLON, for flights into low Earth orbit, drastically reducing launch costs and enabling a step change in outer-space transportation technology.

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[FloatingFatMan]

This is incorrect:  "EU Provides $77 Million for SABRE Engine R&D"

The EU isn't providing any money, it's merely said that the UK can go ahead and give REL this money that they had already said they were going to give them, as it falls within the EU wide rules that prevent governments from favouring one business over another.

 

[DocM]

The EU clearly needs more constructive things to do than micromanage R&D.

 

 

[FloatingFatMan]

The EU clearly needs more constructive things to do than micromanage R&D.

On that, there can be no argument.

 

[DocM]

Whoa BABY!! Supprt from one of the big boys.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34694935

http://www.aviationweek.com/technology/bae-takes-stake-reaction-engines-hypersonic-development

 

BAE Takes Stake In Reaction Engines Hypersonic Development

BAE Systems is partnering with air-breathing rocket developer Reaction Engines as part of an agreement under which BAE will acquire a 20% share of the U.K.-based company for £20.6 million ($31.8 million).

The surprise announcement represents a key breakthrough for Reaction in its efforts to attract major aerospace investors to accelerate development of the Synergetic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine (Sabre) combined cycle propulsion system aimed at bridging the power gap between air breathers and rockets. BAE’s move marks another apparent vote of confidence in the pre-cooler technology at the heart of the Sabre cycle, which earlier this year received independent validation from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory.

Reaction also recently received European Commission approval for a $93 million U.K. government research and development grant as it begins to transition to a production-focused company. The results of an earlier independent audit from the European Space Agency have also helped allay concerns from skeptical rocket specialists in the feasibility of the concept. Reaction claims the Sabre has six times better fuel consumption than a rocket engine, and the news of BAE’s investment decision is expected to underline broader industry belief in the validity of the propulsion cycle.

In a statement Reaction says the partnership with BAE will provide “access to critical industrial, technical and capital resources to progress towards the demonstration of a ground based engine – a key milestone in the development of the technology.” The Culham, Oxfordshire-based developer adds that under the agreement BAE will “enter into a preferred supplier relationship with Reaction Engines in certain agreed areas and will have representation on the board of Reaction Engines.”

From BAE’s perspective the link provides the aerospace company with an interest in a potentially new class of aerospace propulsion system, a pathway to both the burgeoning reusable space launch market as well as the growing interest in hypersonic vehicles. The focus of both partners is on a ground engine demonstration first in order to explore the engines' potential, followed by a flight demonstrator.

The Sabre engine is designed to power a vehicle from standstill on the runway to around Mach 5.5 in air-breathing mode before transitioning to rocket mode for the jump to low Earth orbit. The potential capability of the cycle, which harvests oxygen from the atmosphere through an innovative heat exchanger system, has also attracted interest in its use as a propulsion system for atmospheric hypersonic vehicles as well as space transports.

Details of how the heat exchanger system chills incoming air from more than 1,000 deg. C, to minus 150 deg. C. in less than 1/100th of a second, were revealed in detail by Reaction for the first time at an American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics spaceplanes and hypersonics conference in Glasgow, Scotland, in July. The pre-cooled air emerges from the heat exchanger through a turbo-compressor and into the rocket combustion chamber, where it is burned with sub-cooled liquid hydrogen.  Reaction revealed its design avoids the pitfall of ice clogging by cycling a water-methane mix through the pre-cooler and re-injecting it at several points further upstream in the system. 

The new partnership also revives historic ties with the horizontal take-off and landing (Hotol) spaceplane project, which BAE Systems predecessor company, British Aerospace, began studies of 30 years ago with Rolls-Royce.  By 1989 U.K. government work on launchers stopped with the decision not to join the European Ariane 5, and Rolls-Royce terminated internal funding of the propulsion concept. Later in 1989 Reaction Engines was formed by Alan Bond, John Scott-Scott and Richard Varvill to continue low-level development of the propulsion and spaceplane concepts. At this stage Hotol was also renamed Skylon.

Reaction Engine pre-cooler assembly is technology at the heart of the company's Sabre engine.