By Sean O'hare PUBLISHED: 13:16 EST, 25 January 2013 | UPDATED: 13:58 EST, 25 January 2013 A hypersonic SpaceLiner capable of reaching 24 times the speed of sound and transporting passengers from London to Sydney in 90 minutes could be with us by 2050. Although the finished article is still a long way off, Martin Sippel, project coordinator for SpaceLiner at the German Aerospace Center believes the project could attract private funding within a decade. The current concept includes a rocket booster stage for launch and a separate orbiter stage to carry up to 50 passengers halfway around the world without ever making it to space.
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SpaceLiner would reach 24 times the speed of sound
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Will launch with the help of a liquid oxygen and hydrogen-fuelled rocket
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It would take eight minutes to climb 50 miles to upper Earth, then break away from rocket before gliding down to destination
Engineers predict that advances in materials could be combined with new cooling technologies and heat shielding to safeguard the @placeholder's structures against the intense heat of hypersonic flight.