Hypersonic ‘SpaceLiner' Could Fly From London To Australia In 90 Minutes By 2030

A hypersonic jet that could fly passengers to the other side of the globe in just 90 minutes could be a reality by 2030.

Boffins at German Aerospace firm DLR are currently developing a ‘SpaceLiner’ that carries 100 passengers and travels at 20 times the speed of sound.

A trip from London to Australia could be completed in a staggering 90 minutes, while it would take just 1 hour to fly from Europe to the U.S.

Martin Sippel, head of the SpaceLiner project at DLR told Aviation Week: “We have several hundred million passengers traveling intercontinental distances each year and we think space should have a tiny portion of that”.

While the reusable rocket-powered system would be truly revolutionary, the company says it would need a cash injection of $33billion in order to meet the projected 2030 deadline.

The company estimates that it would need to gather the funding by 2020 in order to stick to the timeline, and hopes to build six test vehicles.

If successful, the vehicle would launch vertically while attached to a booster, later separating to glide hypersonically at Mach 20-plus at altitudes over 80km.

NASA recently announced a $2.3million research investment that could herald the return of Concorde-style supersonic commercial flight, while Airbus patented a hypersonic jet that could potentially travel at double the speed of Concorde.

(Image credit: DLR)