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The UK Space Agency is backing a plan by British car and engine manufacturing firm Rolls-Royce to build a nuclear reactor for the Moon. The program will receive funds to the sum of £2.9 million from the UK Space Agency, a major increase from the £249,000 study funded by the agency in 2022. It is hoped that Rolls-Royce will have the reactor ready to send to the Moon by 2029. The idea to make a nuclear power source for the Moon is far from outlandish. Nations all over the world, spearheaded by NASA's Artemis missions, seek to return humanity to...

Rolls-Royce Holdings is getting into the spaceflight industry. The British aerospace engineering company says it’s developing a micro-nuclear reactor that the company hopes could be a source of fuel for long trips to the Moon and Mars. Rolls-Royce Holdings announced in 2021 its intent to develop nuclear reactor technology, having obtained $600 million in public and private funding to develop its business. Since the nuclear reactor won’t have to carry as much fuel as a chemical propulsion rocket, the entire system will be lighter allowing for faster travel or increased payloads. The company says that the reactor could serve as...

The cost of living is squeezing UK households but some have not felt the sting as luxury car marker Rolls-Royce has reported a record year for sales. Rolls-Royce Motor Cars reported a record 6,021 sales in 2022, an 8% increase on 2021’s record of 5,586, and the first time in its 118-year history that annual sales have exceeded 6,000. Records were set in several key markets, including the UK and Germany. The value of bespoke commissions ⁠— from customers seeking to customise their new car ⁠— also reached record levels in 2022. Torsten Müller-Ötvös, CEO of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, revealed...

The creation of the Rolls-Royce Small Modular Reactor (SMR) business was announced following a £195m cash injection from private firms and a £210m grant from the government. Small modular reactors are nuclear fission reactors but are smaller than conventional ones. Rolls-Royce SMR said one of its power stations would occupy about one tenth of the size of a conventional nuclear plant - the equivalent footprint of two football pitches - and power approximately one million homes. The firm said a plant would have the capacity to generate 470MW of power, which it added would be the same produced by more...

Rolls-Royce (OTCPK:RYCEY, OTCPK:RYCEF) is awarded a contract to provide upgraded engines for the U.S. Air Force's B-52 bomber fleet in an award that could grow to $2.6B, the Department of Defense announces, beating out General Electric (NYSE:GE) and incumbent Pratt & Whitney (NYSE:RTX). Rolls-Royce was given an initial six-year $501M base contract to supply 608 engines for installation on the Air Force's 76 active-duty and reserve B-52s, which could grow to $2.6B if all options are exercised

Rolls-Royce Aerospace makes jet engines that power many of the world’s airplanes. While they are state of the art in terms of efficiency, they also leave a lot of greenhouse gas emissions in their wake. The company has been a leader in developing electric propulsion systems for airplanes in order to help lead the world forward into a future of zero-emissions flight. Getting there will involve lots of innovations. The major hurdle is that batteries have a much lower energy density per unit of weight than jet fuel. Let’s dig into that a bit. According to JetPack Aviation, a liter...

This new research contract will see planetary scientists work together to explore the game-changing potential of nuclear power as a more plentiful source of energy, capable of making possible deeper space exploration in the decades to come. Nuclear propulsion, which would involve channelling the immense energy released in splitting the atom to accelerate propellants, like hydrogen, at huge speeds, has the potential to revolutionise space travel. By some estimates, this kind of engine could be twice as efficient as the chemical engines that power our rockets today. Spacecraft powered by this kind of engine could, conceivably, make it to Mars...

Loyal members of Chinese Communist Party are working in British consulates, universities and for some of the UK's leading companies, The Mail on Sunday can revealLeaked database of 1.95m registered party members reveals how Beijing's malign influence now stretches into almost every corner of British life, including defence firms, banks and pharmaceutical giantsSome members, who swear oath to 'guard Party secrets, be loyal to the Party, work hard, fight for communism throughout my life...and never betray the Party', are understood to have jobs in British consulates Loyal members of the Chinese Communist Party are working in British consulates, universities and...

Engine technology being developed for a British space plane could also find its way into hypersonic aircraft built by the U.S. military. The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory is studying hypersonic vehicles that would use the Synergetic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine (SABRE), which the English company Reaction Engines Ltd. is working on to power the Skylon space plane, AFRL officials said. "AFRL is formulating plans to look at advanced vehicle concepts based on Reaction Engine's heat-exchanger technology and SABRE engine concept," officials with AFRL, which is based in Ohio, told Space.com via email last month. ... SABRE burns hydrogen and oxygen....

'A UK company which hopes to build a re-usable space plane has won an important endorsement from the European Space Agency (ESA) after completing key tests on its novel engine technology. Reaction Engines believes its novel Sabre engine, which would operate like a jet engine in the atmosphere and a rocket in space, could displace rockets for space access and transform air travel by bringing any destination on earth to no more than four hours away. That ambition was given a boost this week by ESA, which has acted as an independent auditor on the Sabre test programme. "ESA are...

A revolutionary UK spaceplane concept has been boosted by the conclusions of an important technical review.The proposed Skylon vehicle would do the job of a big rocket but operate like an airliner, taking off and landing at a conventional runway. The European Space Agency's propulsion experts have assessed the details of the concept and found no showstoppers. They want the next phase of development to include a ground demonstration of its key innovation - its Sabre engine. This power unit is designed to breathe oxygen from the air in the early phases of flight - just like jet engines -...

If there is one British space project that has the capacity to inspire at the moment then surely it is Skylon.

Launching into orbit could become a little easier and cheaper, thanks to a futuristic space plane that looks like it might have flown straight out of a Star Wars film. The European Space Agency and British government have awarded $1 million euros ($1.28 million dollars) to Reaction Engines Limited (REL), a British aerospace company, as part of a multi-million dollar development program for an air-breathing rocket engine that could power the Skylon spaceplane. The unpiloted, reusable vehicle is designed to take off from an airstrip, deliver cargo into orbit and return to the same runway.

Virgin Galactic announced in May that it would be partnering with NASA to work toward high-speed, high altitude point-to-point travel for commercial airline passengers. The plan is to eventually create an aircraft that can fly above 60,000 feet (the cruising altitude of the Concorde) and carry between 9 and 19 people per flight, with a cabin essentially set up to provide each of those passengers with either Business or First Class-style seating and service. One other key element of the design is that it can be powered by next-gen sustainable fuel for more ecological operation. In some ways, this project...

Mini nuclear stations can be mass manufactured and delivered in chunks on the back of a lorry, which makes costs more predictable. Rolls-Royce is leading a consortium to build small modular reactors (SMRs) and install them in former nuclear sites in Cumbria or in Wales. Ultimately, the company thinks it will build between 10 and 15 of the stations in the UK. They are about 1.5 acres in size - sitting in a 10-acre space. That is a 16th of the size of a major power station such as Hinkley Point. SMRs are so small that theoretically every town could...

Air France Flight 66 suffered an uncontained engine failure in September of 2017. The engine failure occurred while the aircraft was flying in the proximity of Greenland. Some of the missing engine parts are very important for the investigation into the incident. Accordingly, at this time, the hunt continues for the missing Air France A380 engine fragments in Greenland. As CNN reported, “the entire front part of the engine, including the large fan and engine’s casing, completely sheared away.” the French investigation authority BEA has stated that “Quite early in the investigation, it was established that the recovery of the...

General Electric's (GE - Get Report) Aviation unit, one of the few businesses in which the troubled conglomerate is making money, is poised to take advantage of the engine problems suffered by a chief rival. Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC, GE's biggest competitor in airplane engines, said Monday that all 166 of the engines it built for Boeing's fleet of 787 Dreamliners must be grounded pending inspection of a faulty part. The British manufacturer's misfortune provides a rare opportunity for a win for GE, who makes the only engine interchangeable with Rolls-Royce's Trent 1000. "It's hard to make the direct connection to...

Rolls-Royce North America is adding about 100 jobs at its Prince George County manufacturing plant this year. Employment at the Crosspointe factory should reach 400 or more by the end of the year as it adds production to meet demand in the aircraft industry, said Lorin S. Sodell, manufacturing executive at the plant. The Rolls-Royce facility opened in 2011 on a 1,000-acre site in Prince George. It makes precision aircraft components such as rotative discs and turbine blades. Sodell said Rolls-Royce employed about 300 people at the plant at the start of 2018. So far this year, the company has...

When President Donald Trump recently told Reuters he misses driving, many were quick to doubt that he'd been behind the wheel of a car for years. The comments, which followed Trump's pronouncement to Reuters that "I like to drive" and "I can't drive anymore" caught the attention of Axios reporter Jonathan Swan, who Sunday went digging to find any video evidence of Trump behind the wheel. What he found was what could only be described, as he wrote, as "glorious." The footage he unearthed was from 2014. It was filmed by Melania Trump from the backseat of Trump's Rolls-Royce. Trump...

ANA says it will replace the engines on its fleet of Boeing 787s after a series of engine failures caused by corrosion and fatigue cracking of turbine blades. The Japanese airline plans to swap out all 100 Rolls-Royce engines currently used on its 50 Dreamliners. The process could take as long as three years, according to spokesman Yoichi Uchida. ... For now, the engines will be upgraded with brand new turbine blades. Meanwhile, ANA said it is working with Rolls-Royce to find a more permanent solution. Five engines have already been repaired with new turbines.