Takeoff: An artist impression of the Hypermach SonicStar, a business jet which will be capable of a top speed of 2,664mph twice as fast as Concorde.
A Formula One motor racing tycoon has teamed up with an airline to develop a spaceship that could mean every city on the planet is just two hours away.
Imagine Sydney and Tokyo becoming short-haul destinations as passengers jet on a spaceship travelling at 13,750 mph.
That's the dream of India Force co-owner Michiel Mol and Dutch airline KLM who this week will announce the first British space tourist to buy a £60,000 ticket for sub-orbital flights in 2014.
They expect to have scheduled commercial space journeys in operation within 15 to 20 years.
Mr Mol, a 42-year-old Dutch millionaire, said: 'Being able to travel from London to Sydney in an hour and 45 minutes, that is the future.
'I think there will millions of people who would prefer to be in Sydney in a little more than one and a half hours rather than 24 hours.'
His first generation spaceship, the Lynx, will travel at 2,200 mph and he predicts it will be capable of flying four times day and doing 5,000 flights with one engine.
The spacecraft, currently being built by the Californian company XCOR Aerospace, will be unveiled next spring. Thirty-five space tourists have already bought tickets for the flights from the Caribbean island of Curacao.
Passengers will have to a minor physical test before before allowed to travel. They can call themselves astronauts if they reach an altitude of 62 miles.
Mr Mol told the Sunday Times that ticket prices will be comparable to the £6,200 cost of the cheapest seats on Concorde before it ended flights in 2003.
The first Briton to buy a ticket is Anton Kriel who appeared on the BBC TV programme Million Dollar Traders.
He told the paper: 'I will be an astronaut. I will no longer have to listen to people who brag about their new Aston Martin.'
Last June, plans were unveiled for a potential rival called the Hypermach SonicStar, a business jet which will be capable of a top speed of 2,664mph – twice as fast as Concorde.
It will fly at 62,000ft, allowing passengers to see the curvature of the earth and can fly from London to Sydney in three and a half hours.
Hypermach chief executive Richard Lugg wants the plane in the skies within ten years and has already secured funding from the Department of Trade and Industry, which has agreed to support the company in Britain.
Within days, a hypersonic project developed by Airbus’s parent company EADS, was unveiled which would reduce the Sydney flight time even further.
Three sets of engines would produce speeds of 3,125mph, more than four times the speed of sound.
There’s only one catch for prospective commuters – it will be another 40 years before commercial flights take place.
A project between KLM and Michiel Mol could bring every city on earth within two hours' travel
Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, CEO of Air France KLM, promoting new domestic routes in France last week. Source: AFP
IT offers the prospect of Sydney to London becoming a short-haul flight and travellers arriving in Tokyo before the credits for the on-board movie roll.
A Formula One tycoon is linking up with KLM, the Dutch airline, to develop spacecraft that could bring every city on Earth within two hours' travel time.
This week they will reveal the first British passenger to buy a $A97,000 ticket for a ride on an early version of the craft, providing sub-orbital flights for space tourists.
Their ambition, however, is to pioneer commercial space travel with, they hope, the first scheduled flights within 15 to 20 years.
Michiel Mol, 42, a Dutchman who co-owns the Force India F1 team and made his fortune in computer software, said this weekend: "Being able to travel from London to Sydney in an hour and 45 minutes, that is the future. It is also the reason why KLM joined our firm [Space Expedition Curacao] as a partner.
"They themselves started a hundred years ago with sightseeing tours above Amsterdam, and now we have an immense aviation industry."
Peter Hartman, chief executive of the airline, said: "KLM supports this innovative project. The SXC programme's aim is to make space flights - the future of travel - accessible in a responsible and sustainable way by developing and promoting new technologies."
So far seven people have paid for commercial flights into space, paying sums of up to $A32m each to ride on Russian rockets. Sir Richard Branson intends to become the first private space tourism operator, booking seats at $A209,000 each.
Mol intends to follow suit in early 2014 and says he has already sold 35 tickets at pounds $A97,000 for flights from the Caribbean island of Curacao. Regulatory approval is still under negotiation.
His first spaceship, the Lynx, from the Californian firm XCOR Aerospace, will be unveiled next spring and will, he claims, feature breakthrough technology with a reusable engine.
"It's the first time a spaceship will be capable of doing four flights a day and of doing 5,000 flights with one engine," he said.
Passengers, who will be entitled to call themselves astronauts if they reach an altitude of 100 kilometres, will be required to pass physical tests which he says are no more stringent than would be expected of an air steward. The first generation spaceship will travel at 2,200mph, but the second generation will need to reach a velocity of 13,750mph to achieve the desired orbit.
Although Mol concedes this is "a long way off", he adds that once the craft is in space "where you are going doesn't make much difference. You need 10 minutes to get into space and maybe half an hour to decelerate and land again, and the rest of the time you are flying at 12,000-13,750mph".
"Flying from London to Barcelona would still take an hour or so while London to Tokyo would be about 1hr 30min and London to Sydney 1hr 45min. "
The cheapest ticket prices on Concorde were pounds 6,200 before a crash in 2000 led to the suspension of services. Mol says the viability of long-haul space travel will depend on similar price levels.
"When we get to the point that travelling through space is two or three times [the cost of] a business-class long-distance flight then I think there will be millions of people who would prefer to be in Sydney in a little more than 1 and a half hours instead of 24 hours."
Mol has committed less than $A161m for the space tourism venture and concedes he will need massive outside investment to make space travel a reality.
His father, Jan Mol, who is worth $A653m according to The Sunday Times Rich List, will co-host the British launch of the venture with Marie Claire von Alvensleben in London this week. Anton Kreil, the first Briton to pay Mol for a sub-orbital flight, admitted he was partly motivated by ego. "I will be an astronaut. I will no longer have to listen to people who brag about their new Aston Martin."
Kreil, 32, who starred in the BBC TV programme, Million Dollar Traders, said he believed commercial space travel was close to becoming a reality.
"I was brought up in a four-bedroom terrace house in Liverpool, and there are going to be a lot of normal people going," he said. "I believe we are only 20 years away from this becoming a viable and affordable means of transportation."
http://www.theaustralian.com.au
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