Mon, 02 Jun 2025

Mon, 02 Jun 2025 The British jet engine that failed in the 'Valley of Death'

Workers at Reaction Engines felt they were close to completing a revolutionary jet engine.
Richard Varvill, former chief technology officer at Reaction Engines, recalls the emotional shock of watching his high-tech venture collapse. The company had been working on a revolutionary aerospace engine for decades, but ultimately ran out of funding. The origins of Reaction Engines date back to the 1980s and its futuristic space plane concept, Hotol. The key innovation was heat exchanger technology, designed to cool super-heated air entering the engine at hypersonic speeds. Fast forward to 2024, when Reaction Engines had secured UK Ministry of Defence funding for an unmanned aircraft project with Rolls-Royce. However, this wasn't enough to keep the business afloat, and Varvill admits that "Rolls-Royce said it had other priorities and the UK military has very little money". The process of developing an aerospace engine is notoriously long and difficult, known as crossing the Valley of Death. Varvill knew the company needed more funding towards the end of 2024 but big investors were reluctant to invest. As administrators moved in to wind down the business, employees were left stunned and heartbroken. Some were seen crying, while others expressed pride in the work they had done. Despite the failure, former employees remain optimistic that the technology will be revived in some form. Former colleague Kathryn Evans reflected on her time at Reaction Engines, saying "it was British engineering at its best" and praising the company's supportive culture. Her boss Adam Dissel lamented the lack of investment from big names like Boeing and Rolls-Royce, which he believes could have given confidence to the wider investment community. In the end, Varvill's own verdict on Reaction Engines' failure was simple: "We failed because we ran out of money".
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