Skylon and the Sabre Engine
Discussion
In case anyone missed it, there was a good program about SABRE/Skylon on the beeb a while ago: http://youtu.be/McdLB7oGJu8
It also goes into their original attempt HOTOL - which was killed off when the government of the time withdrew funding and placed the technology under the official secrets act, which is what triggered them to start again from scratch and come up with SABRE
It also goes into their original attempt HOTOL - which was killed off when the government of the time withdrew funding and placed the technology under the official secrets act, which is what triggered them to start again from scratch and come up with SABRE
IanMorewood said:
I thought Bond had said he really didn’t want any government involvement in the project after his earlier ram jet concepts where basically squashed for 30 years when the MOD took out patents on half the stuff he designed.
I guess the money was a bit too much of a lure. Either way I doubt the government would squash it; space technology is a bit export earner for the UK right now, and having the technology to build a reusable SSTO that could fly from a runway would certainly help that cause a lot.davepoth said:
IanMorewood said:
I thought Bond had said he really didn’t want any government involvement in the project after his earlier ram jet concepts where basically squashed for 30 years when the MOD took out patents on half the stuff he designed.
I guess the money was a bit too much of a lure. Either way I doubt the government would squash it; space technology is a bit export earner for the UK right now, and having the technology to build a reusable SSTO that could fly from a runway would certainly help that cause a lot.
t and this might, just might be some technology that 'we' could sell.If this whole thing came off, and we ended up with a real live state of the art, world leading space vehicle, it could massively raise the profile of UK engineering, and, dare I say it, credibility.
(IMO)
dr_gn said:
PlankWithANailIn said:
It'll be a very successful game changer like the jet engine; but our idiot government will just hand over the rights to the yanks and no one will make any money from it...Just like the jet engine...Do'h!
Why would they do that?
Simpo Two said:
The jet engine was given to the Russians by the post-war Labour government in a gesture of ludicrously naive socialist bonhomie. The Russians promptly reverse-engineered it and put it in Mig-15s for the Korean war.
Sold to the Russians, and at the end of the day the axial flow designs from Germany were the way forward.I actually thought the details were GIVEN to the Russians rather than sold.
Essentially it was the details (and actual copies) of the Rolls Royce Nene - which Dr gn correctly states was a centrifugal flow compressor design rather than an axial flow design.
Despite the fact that the axial was the best design for future projects, the Russians made good use of the Nene and installed a derivative of it in the very capable MIG 15.
Essentially it was the details (and actual copies) of the Rolls Royce Nene - which Dr gn correctly states was a centrifugal flow compressor design rather than an axial flow design.
Despite the fact that the axial was the best design for future projects, the Russians made good use of the Nene and installed a derivative of it in the very capable MIG 15.
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