Who doesn’t love a long flight?

They’re especially fun if you’re flying economy class.

If you’re really lucky you’ll get to share a row with a screaming baby or an emotional support alligator. 

That’s the dream, really.

Unfortunately for fans of the long commute (shame on you), technology is advancing at a rapid rate, and soon you’ll be able to fly between continents in a matter of hours.

The UK Space Agency is working on a ‘Space Plane’ that will allow passengers to fly from Britain to Australia in just four hours by the 2030s, reports Stuff.

Keep in mind that the current fastest one-stop flight between London and Sydney takes close to 22 hours.

Reaction Engines, based in Oxfordshire, are building a hybrid hydrogen air-breathing rocket that will propel a plane at Mach 5.4 – more than twice the speed of Concorde – and at Mach 25 in space.

The Sabre engine will slash flight times between London and New York to just an hour – with the hydrogen/oxygen engine far greener and cheaper than current air travel.

The team is running trials on the ground in Denver, Colorado, and hopes to begin test flights in the mid-2020s, before running commercial flights in the 2030s. The UK Government has invested £60 million ($118 million) in the project, an amount matched by Rolls-Royce, BA systems, and Boeing.

Britain and Australia have agreed to partner on a ‘space bridge’.

Graham Turnock, head of the UK Space Agency, said: “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.”

Supersonic commercial flight has not been available since Concorde was scrapped in 2003. Hypersonic – five times the speed of sound – is harder to achieve because of intense engine temperatures. Fighter jets achieve it through a complex cooling system but their engines are large, expensive and inefficient.

The Synergetic Air Breathing Rocket Engine (Sabre) works by using tiny tubes of supercooled helium. This combined with ‘captured heat’ powers the engine.

The hybrid engine allows a spaceplane to take off horizontally and reach speeds of Mac 5.4 – 4000mph (6437kmh) for fast commercial travel, and also switch to rocket mode, allowing for space travel at Mach 25 (19,000mph).

As well as aerospace, the new engines could be used in the automotive industry and motorsport, or for energy production.

Speaking at the UK Space Conference, in Newport, South Wales, Shaun Driscoll, of Reaction Engines, said: “The main thing with Sabre is it’s like a hybrid of a rocket engine and an aero engine, so it allows a rocket to breathe air… rockets really haven’t progressed in 70 years, whereas aero engines have become very efficient.

While the physics of it all checks out, real-world tests will need to be conducted to make sure the plane is safe and passenger-friendly.

If it all works out, flying could be a very different experience in the near future.

Four hours sat next to a wailing child is still four too many, but it’s a start.

[source:stuff]