By Kris Walker

British Engineering: An artistic impression of the SKYLON 'space plane' in flight. Image Credit: http://www.reactionengines.co.uk

A British company is to receive £60 million funding for a revolutionary aircraft that could not only transport passengers from the UK to Australia in four and a half hours but also has capabilities for space travel; rocketing into the stratosphere in just 15 minutes.



From runway to orbit in fifteen minutes! Image Credit: http://www.reactionengines.co.uk

Dr. Alan Bond, founder of Reaction Engines has designed the SKYLON, an unpiloted space plane that could potentially accelerate up to Mach 5.5 before “changing gear” to rocket mode which can propel the plane through the atmosphere at Mach 25.



Revolutionary SABRE Engine has two modes to allow runway take off and space travel. Image Credit: http://www.reactionengines.co.uk

SKYLON’s revolutionary SABRE Engines allow the space plane to set off from a runway and propel into space. Essentially a rocket engine, the SABRE operates in two modes, an air breathing mode, which then leads onto the typically used rocket mode for space travel.



Built for reliable, reusable space travel. Image Credit: http://www.reactionengines.co.uk

The SKYLON is made up of carbon fiber reinforced plastic. The tankage is aluminum propellant with the external shell being a fiber reinforced ceramic that is only 0.5mm thick. This corrugated, lightweight design allows for free maneuverability when under thermal expansion upon entry and re-entry to the earth’s atmosphere.



The SKYLON plane is intended to be reusable, which could well, be a major cost saving positive for space travel.



SKYLON could be configured with a specialized compartment to transport people. Image Credit: http://www.reactionengines.co.uk

The capabilities with the SKYLON space plane could be limitless. Transporting satellites, supplies to space stations and potentially personnel, could all be within reach. What SKYLON could mean for the space industry is reliable cost effective space travel, with the ability to have a spacecraft that can operate from runway to orbit and back.

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