Rocket developer finds new space across county border

A good example of companies already seeing the benefit of investment and proposed new infrastructure is Reaction Engines, an Abingdon-based company, which has chosen Westcott in Buckinghamshire – part of the Aylesbury Vale Enterprise Zone – as the site for developing its new, innovative SABRE engine technology.

The company is working on a hybrid airbreathing rocket engine that can power an aircraft from a standing start to over five times the speed of sound for hypersonic flight in the atmosphere, and over 25 times the speed of sound for space access.

The fast-growing, innovative company represents the type of organisation that could crystallise into a major international competitor in the space sector given greater infrastructure investment and talent retention across the Arc.

Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) at Culham Science Centre is a lead participant in the coordinated EU fusion programme managed by EUROfusion, and operates JET (Joint European Torus), the largest fusion device in the world.

Since it began operating in 1983, JET has made major advances in the science and engineering of fusion. Its success has led to the construction of the first commercial-scale fusion machine, ITER, and has increased confidence in the tokamak as a design for future fusion power plants.