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London to Sydney In Four Hours - New British Jet Could Change Flying Forever

A new jet engine could take passengers anywhere on Earth within four hours - blasting passengers into space on the way.

The British-designed Sabre engine can travel at up to 4,000mph, making it possible to fly from Britain to Australia in four hours.

The European Space Agency invested $11 million in the Sabre engine this week - an engine which combines jet and rocket technology to hit five times the speed of sound.

It takes off from a runway and accelerating to five times the speed of sound before switching to rocket mode and going into orbit.

In theory, it could fly passengers at up to 4,000mph, and has been described as a ‘potential game changer.

The engine relies on cooling oxygen from 1,000 degrees C down to -150 degrees C - and then using the resulting liquid oxygen as rocket fuel.

A BAE Systems spokesman said, ‘Once the technology is mature - in around 25 years - we aim to develop airliners capable of more than twice the speed of Concorde.

‘The engine can be used for a whole new generation of aircraft, both for high speed flight over long distances and for space.’