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I thought it was a bit brief, but then I spotted the sender, the second permanent secretary. That’s a bit strange, that’s the number two in the whole treasury, who’s in charge of international finance. Why on Earth would he personally reply, and why him? Surely it’s domestic finance, nothing to do with international. Maybe it was nothing to do with him and some intern used the wrong rubber stamp, but it would explain the brevity of the reply, he would be a fairly busy chap. It’s been signed in pen though, not stamped, you can see it has the pressure of a pen on the paper.
Anyway, so I called Alan Bond over at Reaction Engines, and he was a bit surprised, as they’ve been given no milestones for finance release, and had just been told that the funding was held pending an investigation into feasibility. Which itself made no sense as there had already been an ESA feasibility study completed, and a second by the University of Leicester. Both had given it a thumbs up.
So, Monday I’ll get onto a new story about it. In the meantime, I spent some time over at the local hospital today, talking to them about their new next generation MRI machine they’ve just installed. It’s supposed to be 10% quicker than the standard MRI, and only half as noisy. I doubt anyone’s socks will be blown off by that news, but it can obviously mean the difference between life or death in an emergency sometimes, so, it’s a good thing, and newsworthy.
Tuesday, April 22nd 2014
Two stories done today, quite pleased with that. I expect it’s something to do with being extra-sugared, after eating a ton of chocolate for Easter, I just worked like a boss all day and it all just fell together.
The first article, the MRI one, which is a bit dull, quite technical to dazzle the locals with science, was fairly long, as it was quite a big investment for the hospital. The second one, the one I like though, is the new Engine story. A bit of controversy I feel, or just so obvious that the government has no clue.
Government Mismanagement on Reaction Engines
The Reaction Engines company, based in the Culham Science Centre just outside of Didcot, is well known locally for its pioneering space engine project, and was the subject of a recent Gazette article.
New information from the Treasury Department has indicated that while they seem to be willing to offer some small amounts of funding, to the tune of £20m out of a £7bn development cost, they are so wrapped up in bureaucracy that even this may never happen.
While this may come as a surprise to precisely nobody, it is shocking how such mismanagement can affect local companies. Currently, £17m is being held back by the treasury based on inaccurate information, and based on Reaction Engines meeting goals they have neither been told about, nor consulted on, making them likely to be arbitrary at best.
With the Government’s position of asking for Reaction Engines to meet unknown project goals, while telling the company that they were dependant on reviews to be carried out by the ESA and other bodies, that have already been successfully completed, it seems that the government needs to meet with management from the company to straighten out misconceptions. Company management have reported that a high level meeting has been scheduled for the beginning of 2015.
Waiting until 2015, over eight months away, would sink most companies in desperate need of investment, but luckily Reaction Engines is used to performing great feats with small budgets, and have promised that they will continue on, regardless of the obstacles. They have the ethic of resilience, and of unquenchable drive, that is typical of the great British underdog company.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, the US Air Force has announced a new date of May 11th for further flight tests on their scramjet engine, which is designed to perform the same kind of task as the Sabre Engine. With the US military never seeming to have funding problems, it shows even more the bravery of our local industries willing to develop a competing product to such a behemoth of industry.