"Until the collapse." Richard Varvill recalls the emotional shocks striking the home when the high-tech adventures were off track.

The former CTO made a difficult statement about his long career, trying to put the revolutionary aerospace engine into the realization of the British company's reaction engine.

The origins of the reaction engine can be traced back to the Hotol project in the 1980s. It's a futuristic space plane that attracts the public's imagination and the prospect is a British plane that transcends the atmosphere.

Hotol's secret seasoning is a heat exchanger technology that attempts to cool the ultra-heat 1,000°C that enters the engine at ultrasonic speed.

Without cooling, this will melt the aluminum, Mr Varvill said: "It's actually too hot to handle".

Fast forward to the thirty years of October 2024, and the reaction engine brings heat exchangers to the UK and US scenes.

UK Ministry of Defense funds have carried out hypersonic research on drones with Rolls-Royce. But that's not enough to make the business float.

Rolls-Royce declined to elaborate on the collapse of the reaction, but Mr Varvill was more specific.

"Rolls-Royce said it has other priorities and the British army has very little money."

Airlines is a long-term pregnancy business. It may take 20 years to develop the aircraft. This ruthless journey is known as the Death Valley.

Mr Varvill knows that the business must raise more funds by the end of 2024, but big investors are reluctant to join.

“This game is going to be at the end, but it’s very difficult to cross the Death Valley in aerospace.”

As managers move in, what is the atmosphere of doomsday like?

"It's grim, we're all called to the speech theater, and the managing director gave a speech about the board's 'everything'. Then there's the unpleasant experience of handing over the pass and getting personal belongings. It's definitely a bad day in the office."

This bad day is too much for some people. "There are a few people crying. Many of them are shocked and frustrated because they hope we can take it until the end."

For Mr Varvill, it was about "we are turning things around with the engine of improvement. Just as we were approaching success, we failed. It was a unique British feature."

Did they follow the traditional path after a massive layoff and heading to the nearest bar? "We had a big party at my house. Otherwise, it would be awful to put all this effort into the company rather than marking it somehow."

His former colleague Kathryn Evans led the space effort, around the Department of Defense’s supersonic flight work and the opportunity to apply the technology in any other commercial field.

When did she know the game started? "It's hard to say, when I know it went wrong, I really hoped to end. While there was a lot of uncertainty, the opportunity was strong."

She remembered the moment the axe fell, she joined 200 colleagues in the headquarters auditorium.

“It was October 31, a Thursday and I know it was bad news, but when you get redundant and it takes effect immediately, there is no time to think about it.

The last hour was recorded. One of her colleagues brought the Polaroid camera. Portrait photos were taken and stuck on the board with messages expressing what the reaction engine means to the individual.

What did Ms. Evans write? “I will miss a lot of work with smart people in a culture of support.”

She has been reflecting “unfinished tasks and the potential of technology” ever since.

But her personal pride is still strong. “It’s a British project and it’s important to people.”

Her boss, Adam Dissel, is the president of Reaction Engine, owns the U.S. division of the business. He lamented the unsuccessful struggle to seize more money for well-known figures in aerospace.

"This technology works consistently and is quite mature. However, some of our strategic investors are not enough to invest more money, which has delayed others."

The main investors are Boeing, BAE Systems and Roll-Royce. He feels they can do more to make the broader investment community confident in the reaction engine.

This will avoid a lot of pain.

“My team entered the company with all their heart and we cried.”

Have they really shed tears? "Absolutely, I cried at the last meeting and we joined our hands and stood up. I said 'We're still doing well, bowing."

What courses can we draw for other high-tech businesses? "You have absolutely no choice but to stay optimistic," Mr. Disill said.

When collecting passwords and laptops, when "the future avatar of the business can be retained" is backed up in the case of backup servers, the severe procedures for reducing the business take over.

The company has been doing it with various attitudes for 35 years. "We don't want it to go to Rust. I hope the administrators will look for buyers of intellectual property assets," Disse added.

Other former employees also insisted on the phoenix rising from the ashes. But Death Valley is imminent.

"The reaction engine is on the verge of possible. We are working for the fastest engine and the highest temperature. We are getting rid of the hard work," Mr Dissel said.

Nevertheless, Mr. Varvill's own epitaph of the business obscures the technological milestones. “We failed because we exhausted the money.”