By plane to anywhere in the world in four and a half hours

Aerospace company Reaction Engines Limited from the UK is working on a new engine, using which the aircraft will be able to deliver 300 passengers with luggage from Europe to Australia in four and a half hours. The maximum speed of the passenger aircraft will reach 1700 m / s, and the maximum range of the flight - about 20,000 kilometers. Also, new engines will be able to display aircraft in space. The technology will be available within 10 years. This article tells the article in Business Insider .

The basis of the engine, which was called SABER, is a unique technology of cooling the air before it is fed to the engine. The system consists of a set of swirling tubes with liquid helium, which cool the air to a temperature of -150 degrees. Under normal conditions, this would have caused the appearance of ice, but the company's know-how avoids this effect. The chief project engineer, Alan Bond, says in the video that their project is unique in its essence and has no analogues in the world. He also expresses the hope that the project will "transform high-speed aviation."


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The first flight tests of the engine are scheduled to begin in 2019. Passenger supersonic aircraft will be called LAPCAT A2 . The plane with the ability to go into orbit will be called Skylon, have about 90 meters in length and cost about $ 1.1 billion. The plane will take off from the runway, and land on it, like an ordinary jet plane. At low altitudes, it will work on outboard oxygen, and when flying into space will use a reserve of oxidizer. Such a combined system will make it possible to reduce the required fuel supply and to go out into space without the use of launch vehicles. This should dramatically reduce the cost of putting goods into orbit.



But besides the huge price there is another drawback - there will be no windows on the plane at all. But what about the views, and how to fly to space and look at the planet? But this, apparently, is a new trend in aviation - it is increasingly being proposed to abandon windows in favor of outdoor cameras broadcasting the image on large screens inside the cabin.