SABRE Reaction Engines
Reaction Engines' SABRE. Credit: Reaction Engines

The European Space Agency is providing funds to support development of a British air-breathing rocket engine.

ESA signed an agreement Tuesday with Reaction Engines Ltd. to provide the company more than $10 million to continue work on the SABRE engine, with ESA serving as the project’s technical auditor.

That funding is in addition to the $80 million pledged by the British government for the engine.

SABRE is designed to collect oxygen from the air, even at high speeds, to combust with hydrogen fuel. Reaction Engines says the new contract will support development of a ground demonstrator engine ready that will be ready to begin tests in 2020. [BBC]


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Jeff Foust writes about space policy, commercial space, and related topics for SpaceNews. He earned a Ph.D. in planetary sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree with honors in geophysics and planetary science...