Yahoo Finance Sydney to London in four hours? The tech is nearly here
Australians could get from Australia to Britain in just four hours with new technology currently being developed in Britain.
The aircraft will be powered by a hypersonic engine, with the head of the UK Space Agency predicting it will be up and running by the 2030s.
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“The UK’s space heritage has strong links to Australia, with the first British rockets lifting off from Woomera in the 1950s, and we are committed to strengthening our friendship and partnership,” Dr Graham Turnock, CEO of the UK Space Agency said.
“A Space Bridge agreement will bring significant benefits to both our thriving space industries, facilitating new trade and investment opportunities and the exchange of knowledge and ideas.”
According to The Telegraph, Oxfordshire firm, Reaction Engines, is building a hybrid hydrogen air-breathing rocket that will propel the aircraft at Mach 5.4, with the technology expected to cut travel time between New York and London to just an hour.
The engine allows a spaceplane to reach speeds of 6400 km/h.
"When we have brought the Sabre rocket engine to fruition, that may enable us to get to Australia in perhaps as little as four hours,” Turnock said.
The UK Space Agency in July announced plans to build a space-port in Cornwall allowing “sub-orbital human spaceflight”, estimating that this technology could get people from Europe to Australia in 90 minutes.
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