In what is claimed as the biggest breakthrough since the invention of the jet engine in the 1930s, a British-designed hybrid rocket engine has attracted private and public investment for its development. Known as the Synergistic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine (SABRE) developed by the Reaction Engines Ltd., a private firm in England, it is expected to revolutionise the fields of propulsion and launcher techniques and enable a plane to fly in the atmosphere faster than any before and go into orbit, if need be.

   A jet with this engine will reach any city on the Earth (with fortified runway) within four hours, gaining a speed of 3,200 kmh and or directly go into Earth orbit for placing cargo or satellites weighing more than 16 tonnes. (Currently, a jet takes about nine hours to reach London from India). The innovation is expected to reduce the cost of launching satellites into orbit using once-only rockets. The SABRE jet will take off like an airliner....