Flights could be very quick in years to come thanks to a new and very powerful plane engine. Flying to New York could take just one hour and a trip to Australia could be over in four hours with the new technology. UK firm Reaction Engines is creating the super engine that could see holidaymakers jetting around the world at top speed. The technology company has said it intends to deliver a “truly versatile propulsion system.”
It will be “a hybrid air-breathing rocket engine that can power an aircraft from a standing start to over five times the speed of sound for hypersonic flight in the atmosphere.”
The engine is dubbed the Synergetic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine (SABRE) and “represents a defining moment in powered flight.” It will also power spacecraft.
Current jet engines can only power a vehicle up to Mach 3, three times the speed of sound, Reaction Engines explains on their website. A mach number is a dimensionless quantity representing the ratio of flow velocity past a boundary to the local speed of sound.
SABRE engines are capable of Mach 5.4 in air-breathing mode, and Mach 25 in rocket mode for space flight.
“They are simply going to revolutionise the way we travel around the globe, and into orbit,” said Reaction Engines.
“Like jet engines, SABRE can be scaled in size to provide different levels of thrust for different applications which is crucial to our success – it’s going to enable a whole generation of air and space vehicles.”
The technology could be serving aircraft as early as the 2030s, experts have said.
Graham Turnock, CEO of UK Space Agency, said at the UK Space Conference: “When we have brought the SABRE rocket engine to fruition, they may enable us to get to Australia in perhaps as little as four hours.”
The main challenge the engine faces is reaching the high speeds without overheating the engine and causing damage.
However, the air-breathing rocket engine has already successfully passed its first phase of high-temperature testing.
For UK passengers who are hoping to travel to Australia before the 2030s, Qantas Airways launched the first non-stop flight from London to Australia last year.
The flight takes 17 hours, much quicker than the previous 22 hours, as it covers just under 15,000km.
In October last year, easyJet unveiled plans to develop new electric planes for use on short-haul routes in the next 10 years.
The new aircraft – set to be rolled out by 2030 – will be powered by batteries instead of being dependent on jet fuel.
The electric planes will be quieter, better for the environment and cheaper for airline companies to buy and operate. The budget airline’s bosses have said that electric flying is “becoming a reality.”
Europe’s second busiest route London to Amsterdam will most likely benefit from the new fleet of high-tech aircraft.
EasyJet has partnered with a US start-up company, Wright Electric, for the “exciting” venture.
A battery-propelled aircraft will be developed to cover flights under two hours by 2027.
