People might soon be able to fly Down Under for lunch and back the next day, if a new hypersonic aircraft becomes a reality.
Engineers in the UK are working on developing a rocket engine what might theoretically cut flying times between Europe and Australia to just four hours.
The engine, dubbed Synergetic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine (SABRE) is a project currently being worked on by Reaction Time, a tech company based in Oxfordshire.
Early tests on cooling technology for the engine have been encouraging, and the team says that a fully functional aircraft might be in the air by the 2030s.