Reaction Engines Limited

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Reaction Engines Limited is a British company based in Oxfordshire. Founded in 1989 by Alan Bond (lead engineer on Project Daedalus) and Richard Varvill and John Scott-Scott (the two principal Rolls-Royce engineers from the RB545 engine project), the company conducts research into space propulsion systems, centred around the development of the Skylon re-usable SSTO spaceplane. The three founders worked together on the HOTOL project, funding for which was withdrawn in 1988, largely due to significant technical obstacles. Skylon and the SABRE engine by which it will be powered are being developed as a private venture which aims to overcome these obstacles.

The division of responsibilities is:

Alan Bond - Managing Director and Chief Technical Analyst
Richard Varvill - Technical Director and Chief Designer
John Scott-Scott - Engineering Director and Chief Development Engineer

The company's current research effort is focused on precooler heat exchanger technology, with additional funding gained from the sale of consultancy. The company has also received funding from the EU to investigate applications of its technologies to rapid long-distance passenger transport, under the LAPCAT project.

On February 5, 2008 the company announced it had designed a passenger plane capable of hypersonic speed (Mach 5+), the A2, to the concept stage^[1].