This futuristic passenger jet will rocket from Australia to Europe in 90 minutes

SpaceLiner is a futuristic rocket-fuelled jet that will travel at 20 times the speed of sound

THIS sleek science-fiction passenger jet promises to blast from Australia to Europe in a breath-taking 90 minutes.

 

A German aerospace agency is hard at work on a passenger plane that makes Concorde look sluggish.

The DLR Institute of Space Systems has designed the staggeringly fast passenger jet, which could set out on its maiden flight by 2050.

Dubbed the SpaceLiner, the rocket-fuelled jet will work by blasting into the Earth's stratosphere – some 49 miles above the ground – where it will be able to fly at speeds of 8, 260 miles an hour.

 

SpaceLiner could theoretically travel at speeds 20 times the speed of sound, the firm has claimed.

“The two-stage, vertical-takeoff configuration concept consists of a large unmanned booster and a manned stage designed for 50 passengers and two crew members,” DLR posted on its website.

Such rocket-based, ultra-fast transportation far in excess of supersonic and even potential hypersonic aeroplanes is a fundamental new application for launch vehicles

DLR 

The SpaceLiner will be some 83.5 metres in length, with a wing span of 37.5 metres.

DLR Institute of Space Systems claims the futuristic jet will be accelerated by 11 liquid rocket engines, fuelled by cryogenic liquid oxygen and hydrogen.

This means the rocket will only release water vapour and hydrogen into the atmosphere.

DLR added: “Such rocket-based, ultra-fast transportation far in excess of supersonic and even potential hypersonic aeroplanes is a fundamental new application for launch vehicles.

“Even in the case that only a very small portion of the upper business-travel segment could be tapped by the SpaceLiner, production rates of RLVs and their rocket engines could increase hundredfold which is out of reach for all other known earth-orbit space transportation system concepts.”