ESA's hypersonic space plane could revolutionize global travel

Technology Aug 21, 2025

The European Space Agency (ESA) is working on a hypersonic space plane that might let you fly from London to New York in just one hour—no, seriously.
The aircraft, part of ESA's Invictus project, will travel at Mach 5 (about 5451km/h) and could be ready as soon as 2031.

Invictus project aims to create space plane

The Invictus team is using a special "pre-cooler" tech from Reaction Engines Ltd. to handle the intense heat at super high speeds.
This system blends jet and rocket engine features: it uses regular air at lower altitudes, then switches to liquid hydrogen in space.
ESA's big goal? Planes that take off like normal but can reach the edge of space—bringing us closer to super-fast global travel and even new ways to explore beyond Earth.