London to NYC in just 60 minutes? Hypersonic space plane promises to rewrite air travel

After NASA retired the space shuttle in 2011, many thought space planes were history. But they are making a comeback with new designs. Several U.S. companies like Sierra Space Corp., Dawn Aerospace, and Radian Aerospace are already building space planes that take off like normal planes but fly like rockets.

Virgin Galactic is planning to launch a new Delta version of its space plane soon. The U.S. Air Force already runs a robotic orbital space plane called X-37B, while China has its own version named Shelong. Now, the European Space Agency (ESA) has joined the race. They announced funding for a new project called Invictus, which will focus on building a hypersonic space plane, as reported by Robb Report.

Hypersonic space plane could change travel

In just one hour this plane can go from London to New York as its the fastest plane that can fly at Mach 5 (3,386 mph), and is expected to be ready to fly by 2031. The project will be led by U.K. consulting firm Frazer-Nash, and it will use technology from Reaction Engines Ltd., a private company that worked on earlier space plane ideas like Skylon and the older 1982 HOTOL design.


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Reaction Engines sadly ran into financial trouble and closed down last year, but its technology will live on in this new project. The Invictus plane will use a special “pre-cooler” technology from Reaction’s SABRE engine. This mixes jet and rocket engine ideas—using oxygen from the air at lower levels and then switching to liquid hydrogen fuel in space, as per the report by Robb Report.

Future of air travel and space exploration

A Frazer-Nash representative explained that hypersonic speeds create extreme heat from shockwaves and air friction. Normal engines can’t handle this, but the pre-cooler chills superhot air in a fraction of a second, making hypersonic travel possible. Tests have already proved this pre-cooler works on regular jet engines, so it’s a strong starting point.

Tomasso Ghidini, head of ESA’s mechanical department, said this project could lay the foundation for planes that take off like aircraft but reach orbit like rockets. He added it could redefine travel on Earth and even space exploration. The Invictus team has just 12 months to develop a working concept, and their target is a flying hypersonic jet by 2031, as mentioned in the report by Robb Report.

FAQs

Q1. How fast will the Invictus hypersonic space plane be?
The Invictus space plane is designed to fly at Mach 5 (about 3,386 mph), which could take passengers from London to New York in just one hour.

Q2. When will the Invictus hypersonic plane be ready?
If everything goes as planned, the European Space Agency aims to have the Invictus space plane operational by 2031.