(For those that don't remember, REL are the Skylon people.)
BBC story:
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-43732035
Quoting the start of the article:
Reaction Engines Limited (REL), the UK company developing a
revolutionary aerospace engine, has announced investments from both
Boeing and Rolls-Royce.
REL, based at Culham in Oxfordshire, is working on a propulsion
system that is part jet engine, part rocket engine.
The company believes it will transform the space launch market and
usher in hypersonic travel around the Earth.
The new investments amount to £26.5m.
My take: the claim is that they've gotten £100m in investments over
the last three years. That doesn't mean that they're making real
progress, but it does imply that they've convinced investors that
they are getting somewhere. Note that this doesn't mean that they
_will_ get somewhere, as I've said before, most ventures fail, and
most venture capital investments are made on the assumption that the
probability of success is small. These particular investments also
were probably made partially so that Boeing and Rolls-Royce, which
both have interests in engine technology, could monitor what REL is
up to.
Still, this makes me up my probability estimate that we'll see
something out of them from "really really low" to just "really low".
Who knows, it could go up again if they get enough money to really
finish development.
Perry
--
Perry E. Metzger perry@xxxxxxxxxxxx