The Sabre Hypersonic Plane: London to New York in Just 1 Hour!

The Sabre, a hypersonic plane developed in Britain, is capable of flying at speeds of Mach 5, which is five times the speed of sound, or approximately 4,000 miles (6.4k km) per hour. This revolutionary aircraft could significantly reduce travel time between London and New York. A concept design for the plane is expected to be released within the next 12 months. While the current journey between the two cities takes about 7 hours, the Sabre could shorten that time to just 1 hour.

The ambitious GBP 6 billion (MYR 36.6 billion) project, led by UK-based engineering consultancy Frazer-Nash, is part of the Invictus programme supported by the European Space Agency. The Invictus programme is expected to help the UK expand its space research as well as defence capabilities. The Sabre is scheduled to take off from conventional runways and operate right at the edge of space, with researchers at Frazer-Nash targeting 2031 for the first flight demonstration. The aircraft is also likely to have horizontal take-off capabilities.

With ‘The Sabre’ flying at hypersonic speeds, the aircraft is subject to intense thermal stress and friction, which is expected to be countered by a revolutionary cryogenic pre-cooler. The system can rapidly cool the incoming air, lowering the engine temperature from more than 1,000°C to that of traditional jet engines, all within fractions of a second.

The Sabre is not the only hypersonic aircraft being developed. Several others are in the developmental stages worldwide, including the Talon-A by Stratolaunch, the X-59 QueSST by Lockheed Martin/NASA, the Nanqiang No. 1 by China, and the Venus Stargazer M4, among others.

(Feature image credit: esa)

According to the source: Travel and Leisure Asia.