Proposed 'space bridge' promises 4 hour London to Sydney flights

Flight times from London to Sydney could be slashed by 80% to just four hours if a hypersonic engine, currently under development in the UK, gets off the ground. The SABRE (Synergetic Air Breathing Rocket Engine) which has a top speed of 6,667 km/h (4,143 mph) is forecast to be commercially available by the 2030s. 

At last week's UK Space Conference 2019, the UK Space Agency and its Australian counterpart announced they would build on a Memorandum of Understand they signed in October 2018 and further cooperation towards building what they have called the "world's first space bridge".

The two national space agencies will work with the UK’s Department for International Trade and Australian Trade & Investment Commission, and with industry leaders to establish this international space collaboration.

Dr Graham Turnock, CEO of the UK Space Agency said: "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. 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."

Dr Megan Clark, Head of the Australian Space Agency said: "The Space Bridge will open up new opportunities for Australian space businesses to access the global space sector through future trade agreements. This is an important step in the Agency’s goal to transform and grow the Australian space industry."

The two agencies will work with stakeholders to develop the Space Bridge Framework Agreement in the coming months, building on the significant industrial engagement from previous collaborative projects.

UK-based Reaction Engines' SABRE rocket engine, currently still undergoing testing, is being heralded as the crowning glory of the ambitious project.

"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," said Dr Turnock.

"This is technology that could definitely deliver that. We're talking the 2030s for operational service, and the work is already very advanced."

Earlier this year, Reaction Engines announced the successful testing of an engine precooler in simulations that reenacted the conditions at Mach 3.3; three times the speed of sound; 50% faster than Concorde's cruising speed; and matching the speed of the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, the fastest jet ever on record. The tests took place at the company's facility in Colorado.

At very high speeds, the temperature of the air which flows through the engine can reach incredibly high temperatures, running the risk of causing great damage. A precooler reduces the temperature of gases before they enter the chamber.

The tests showed that the precooler can cool gases from more than 1,000°C to ambient temperature in under 1/20th of a second.

The SABRE engine is designed to reach over Mach 5 in the Earth's atmosphere, then turn into a rocket which can fly through space at speeds of up to Mach 25.

The engine works by "breathing" air from the atmosphere, which allows for less weight in fuel supplies and greater efficiency.

"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," Shaun Driscoll, programmes director at Reaction Engines, told the UK Space Conference.

"Rockets really haven't progressed in 70 years, whereas aero engines have become very efficient, so if you can combine an aero engine and a rocket you can have a very lightweight efficient propulsion system and basically create a space plane."

Reaction Engines has already received £60-million (€67.6-million) from the UK Government and similar amounts from BAE Systems, Rolls Royce and Boeing. 

Will Whitehorn, President of trade association UK Space, said: "The Reaction engine is a very interesting technology. If you can find a way to create a motor which can act like a jet engine in the atmosphere and a rocket motor in space, we'll have cracked one of the biggest conundrums of space launch."

Back to Homepage

Back to Aerospace & Defence