Government pledge £60m to SABRE rocket engine that could 'revolutionise' space travel

Reaction Engines

17 July 2013

David Willetts is hoping to put the UK at the forefront of a new space age, announcing £60 million in funding for a next-generation rocket engine that could “revolutionise access to space”.

Speaking at the UK’s second space conference in Glasgow yesterday, the Minister for Universities and Science announced £60 million in government funding for the development of the Synergetic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine – or SABRE.

SABRE, developed by private firm Reaction Engines in Abingdon, can cool air from 1000 degrees to -150 degrees in one hundredth of a second. The unique technology allows it to extract the oxygen it needs for low atmosphere flight from the air itself, paving the way for a new generation of spaceplanes which would be lighter, reusable and able to take off and land on conventional airport runways.

The engine, over thirty years in the making, is central to Reaction Engine’s concept rocket ship Skylon, which would be able to take off and land horizontally and make repeat trips into space. If all goes to plan Reaction Engines hope to test Skylon as early at 2019.

Willetts said yesterday: “The world is changing and we want to see Britain at the forefront of the next generation of launch and propulsion technologies. The SABRE engine has the power to revolutionise our lives in the 21st century in the way that the jet engine did in the 20th century.”

Willetts said SABRE has the potential to create 20,000 engineering and manufacturing jobs and give the UK a leading position in the launcher market, estimated to be worth £14 billion over the next thirty years.

The coalition have put science, technology and engineering at the heart of their plan to rebalance Britain’s economy. Willetts founded the UK Space Agency in 2010 to oversee the country’s space policy and consolidate funding. With a budget of £250 million annually, the Agency has provided a boost to the sector, which is estimated to contribute £9 billion to the UK economy each year.