Guys I am still buzzing after Thursday evening. What a fantastic lecture. Quite technical. I wish I had listened with more intent when we were doing hard sums on my Propulsion pre Employment Couse at Sleaford tech. All these equations presented may have made more sense. The venue was Cambridge University and well attended by a number of students and Air Cadets. Richard did say one of his aims was to inspire the next generation. He certainly did this.
Tom,
Yes the project is progressing and they have funding for phase 3. The production scale SABRE engine which they hope to run at Culham by October 2017. Target date for a launch to space is 2029. I hope I am still around.
Some really interesting technology in the fine tube heat exchanger which makes it all work. Also the airframe structure is more like an Airship (Neville Norway Shute design) with some exotic materials to withstand the temperatures. Gold plated titanium very thin foil blankets. Silicon carbide reinforced titanium for other bits. The aluminium tank sounded a bit thin and difficult to weld. (That said I think I may have seen a prototype when I went round the Welding Institute at Abington last year)
The ZFW is similar to that of the Nimrod but much longer. Needs a 5 km runway to take account of any aborted take off.
Interesting facts about the banana shaped engine nacelles and the jet thrusters to change direction and manoeuvre in space. We all laughed at the video showing the vehicle used to push the satellites out into Geostationary orbit returning to the payload bay.
I do hope it becomes a reality. If funding had been in US NASA proportions I feel certain we would have colonised Mars already.
No one asked about military applications.
I wish them well.