A Presentation to the Royal A Presentation to the Royal Aeronautical SocietyAeronautical Society

3 June 20083 June 2008Alan Bond, Managing Director

Reaction Engines Ltd

Hydrogen Fuelled Hydrogen Fuelled PrePre--Cooled Jet Cooled Jet

EnginesEngines

Origins

Early 1950s view of the route to space.

A fully reusable transport infrastructure.

X-15 with B52Mother ship.

199 flights between 1959 and 1968.

A fully reusableSpaceplane.

Reusable launcher conceptsof the late 1960s and early 1970s

..we thought we would have this ..

But:-

Can We Consider Single Stage Vehicles?Earth is marginally too big to admit an effective SSTO rocket with near term materials technology, discounting the use of ozone or fluorine.

Use must be made of the lower atmosphere for both its chemical potential and reaction mass.

(Nuclear propulsion is the subject of a different lecture!)

2N0.2M1220T +=

Stagnation Temperature increases with Mach number

X-43A Scramjet Research Vehicle

The LACE engine

R.A. Jeffs & B.A. Beeton

NGTE (1962)

In the mid 1980s theUK returned to thehigher-faster aircraftconcept as a route tospace …HOTOL

SKYLON

1990The SKYLONSpaceplane …

the Phoenix ofHOTOL

Skylon sculptureFestival of Britain 1951

Characteristics for Commercial Operations (1)•• Reusability:Reusability:

reduced cost per flight by amortising production cost over 200 flights.

•• SingleSingle--stage:stage:

reduced development and operating costs relative to multi-stage vehicles.

•• UnUn--piloted:piloted:

reduced mission control, relaxed safety during development, increased payload. dedicated accessory passenger module for payload bay.

Characteristics for Commercial Operations (2)Abort capability:Abort capability:

abort to launch site with up to half engines failed.

flight critical systems redundant to single point failure.

User friendly operations:User friendly operations:

simple ground handling and automatic checkout.

low maintenance through robust TPS and long life engines.

containerised payload system.

ReRe--entry crossentry cross--range:range:

high hypersonic L/D to improve return opportunities to launch site.

Environmental impact:Environmental impact:

benign propellants, ‘low’ engine noise, no orbital debris.

Truss Structure of SKYLON

Specific strength of advanced materials

Aero-shellcomposite

SKYLON is a matureproject study supportedby extensive universityand industry input.

Hypersonic wind tunnel tests at QinetiQ, Farnborough

Mn = 9.5Courtesy of QinetiQ

SKYLON

12 tonnes to LEO

10 tonnes to ISS

200m3 payload bay

4.6m diameter payload

Abort CharacteristicsFull return to base envelope for single point abortable failures.

Full take-off abort envelope.

Aerodynamically controllable with one nacelle inoperable in airbreathing ascent.

Mach 3 ramjet return cruise mode for early rocket abort.

‘Once Around’ mode for late rocket abort.

Fully redundant RCS and OMS systems.

Pre-Cooled Engines

Cooler

Compressor Turbine

Thermodynamic Cycle

Heat Sink

Air intake

Liquid hydrogen

Combustor

2nd Cycle

Precooled Engine Cycle

Some SABRE Parameters

Area ratio 100

Airbreathing combustion pressure 102bar (nominal)

Rocket combustion pressure 145bar (max)

Cycle pressure ratio 4.5:1

Compressor pressure ratio 140

Equivalence ratio 2.8

Veff at Mach 5 16,000 m/s (cf. 46,000 ideal)

Oxidiser cooled combustion chamber

Pre-Cooler Construction

Heat Exchanger Manufacturing Development

Supported by a DTI SMART Award

Brazed Joints

0.88mm x 30µm wall tube

Matrix pressure drop

Test temperatures

Low Temperature Frost Control Testing

First Prototype Pre-cooler Module

Low pressure-surface Heat Transfer Enhancement

Pre-Cooled Gas Turbine Test

Demonstrate real heat exchanger construction and tube size on a test with 9% flow and area.

Objective

Reaction Engines’ B9 Test Facility

E-D Nozzle Test Program (STERN)

(Joint program Uni. of Bristol and Airborne Engineering)

Hypersonic Transport

LAPCAT Configuration A2

Take-off mass 400t

Compliment 300 passengers

Range 23,000km

Speed Mach 5

Brussels-Sydney: Bering Straits route

Leg 1: Brussels-Nome (Alaska) 7176 km

Leg 2: Nome - Sydney 11,552 km

Total journey 18,732 km

4.7 hours @Mach 5 cruise (assuming supersonic overflight of Bering straits)

Scimitar Rev.1 Main Cycle Parameters at Mach5

1320K 635K

853K

999K

291K

843K

989K

610K

861K2627K

200bar

132bar

50.8bar

2.4bar3bar

18bar

200bar

Scimitar Engine installation-nozzle view

Brazed Tube-Header of a Scimitar Module

HX3

He turbine

Two spool compressor

Fan & hub turbine

Preburner

Core engine combustor

Bypass combustor

Scimitar Schematic

Precooler

Experimental Contra-rotating Stator-less Turbine Installation

Rotors 2 & 4

Rotors 1 & 3

Inlet Plenum & IGV Assembly

Micro-channel plate assembly

50µm

Research press tool

High Pressure Regenerator Research

Silicon Carbide manufacturing research

Successful extrusion of rectangular strips 600mm long (or more).

Relatively good control of channel dimensions and wall thickness.

‘Green’ extruded strips require drying mould to control profile.

Removal process required for internal silicon beads that form during reaction bonding process.

Some Scimitar Parameters

Subsonic mode operation below Mach 2.5

Precooled above Mach 3 at inlet 635K

Mach 5 ER = 0.8, Veff = 44,000m/s

Mach 0.9 ER = 0.075, Veff = 96,000m/s

Compressor pressure ratio 4

Fan pressure ratio 1.8

In Summary:-From the Von Braun Studies of the early 1950s, over half a Century has elapsed and a reusable space transportation system seems as remote as ever.

40 years have passed since Phil Bono of Douglas showed that a single stage to orbit low cross-range vehicle is credible, given high performance rocket engines and structures, which we now have.

It is now 20+ years since British Aerospace and Rolls-Royce carried out the HOTOL study, indicating the possibility of realising a high cross-range single stage vehicle.

In Summary:-Today the spacefaring nations of the World are planning a new generation of launchers based on ‘more of the same’. In addition the World is back to subsonic civil transport.

The aerospace industry and the aerospace establishments are obsessed with Scramjets which will keep them in research funds for another generation.

The precooled engine is virtually here. It is adequate to Mach 5 at which we can do a very great deal to advance the utility of space and the quality of life through improved transportation. Lets get on with it!