Proposed Lapcat II Hypersonic Airliner: Brussels to Sydney in Less Than 3 Hours

New submitter AG_2011 writes: Could an airliner that flies anywhere in under 3 hours be in service by 2030? One estimate puts the cost one way at €5,000 (£3,700) per seat for a Brussels to Sydney trip. The Lapcat-II project's Mach 8 airliner will be capable of 8,500 km/h (5,280 mph) and could take passengers on this trip in 2 hours and 55 minutes. The race is on...

Comments

So: nine hours from Brussels to Sydney

[Anonymous Coward]

Three hours: airport security checks

Three hours: flight time

Three hours: customs

Not bad. Not bad at all.

Re:So: nine hours from Brussels to Sydney

[turbidostato]

And then, at five grands a-pop don't expect you have flights each hour, so add up "waiting for next flight".

Doesn't look as if it can go against private jets/flights which seems the natural competitor here.

Brussels to Sydney

[turkeydance]

who would want to do that?

Re:Why not Mach 22

[Beck_Neard]

Nope, you're dead wrong on all points. Flight is far more efficient than a ballistic trajectory. Being in an atmosphere is actually really great because wings allow you to lift far more weight than your engines themselves are capable of. And there's no way to 'glide' in space. You fall. The only way to avoid rapidly falling to the ground is to accelerate to such a tremendous speed (orbital velocity) that your freefall trajectory is wider than the curvature of the Earth. And to get to such speeds, you need a two-stage rocket that costs an insane amount of money and, at present, has to be thrown away each time it's used (Elon Musk is planning to change this, but it's not like it would make it as cheap as air travel).