NBC's website gave more details last week
The British government and European Space Agency (ESA) are providing $100 million in funding, which will be matched by private financing to complete the propulsion system's development and test.
The 2020 flight test will follow the completion of a prototype of the space plane engine by 2017, according to the UK government’s minister for universities and science David Willetts. Speaking on Tuesday (July 16) at the UK Space Conference 2013 in Glasgow, Scotland, Willetts said: "£60 million ($90 million) has been committed to begin building the SABRE prototype. We expect to see the completion of the prototype SABRE by 2017 and flight tests around 2020."
For this next phase, the £60 million will be paid in two tranches, £35 million in the UK government’s financial year 2014-2015 and then £25 million for 2015-2016. This funding is expected to create about 1,000 engineering and technology jobs and support a further 2,000 jobs in the wider economy, officials said.
By 2017, the UK government expects that SABRE's design will be done, ground demonstrations of engine technology carried out; a flight test of the SABRE rocket nozzle achieved; and improvements to the heat exchanger technology and manufacturing capability accomplished.
http://www.nbcnews.com/science/space-plane-engine-future-get-flight-test-2020-6C10679981#space-plane-engine-future-get-flight-test-2020-6C10679981
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