“A small British company with a dream of building a re-usable space plane has won an important endorsement from the European Space Agency (ESA) after completing key tests on its novel engine technology. Reaction Engines Ltd believes its Sabre engine, which would operate like a jet engine in the atmosphere and a rocket in space, could displace rockets for space access and transform air travel by bringing any destination on Earth to no more than four hours away”. – Chris Wickham via Reuters. Photo: Artist's impression of Skylon. (Photo by Reaction Engines Ltd)

Participants dressed as Santa Claus take part in the Great Edinburgh Santa Run on December 11, 2011 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Around a thousand people took part in the annual fundraising event, with all money raised being donated to the charity “When You Wish Upon a Star”. (Photo by Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images)

The crowd watches as stunt pilots Melissa Pemberton, Jurgis Kairys and Skip Stewart of The Immortals fly past pyrotechnics as they perform at The Australian International Airshow on March 1, 2015 in Avalon, Australia. (Photo by Scott E. Barbour/Getty Images)

Residents watch the forest burn in Portezuelo, Chile, Sunday, January 29, 2017. Chilean President Michelle Bachelet has announced that the country will continue with its various measures to deal with wild fires, one of the biggest natural disasters in the country for decades, according to a government report released on Sunday. (Photo by Esteban Felix/AP Photo)

Iberian lynx Mistral jumps in a field after being released by Portugal's Minister of Environment Joao Matos Fernandes (unseen) and others in the Mount Milhouro (Herdade da Cela) region in Mertola, Portugal, 13 May 2016. Mistralis the 18th lynx bred in captivity released since late 2014. (Photo by Nuno Veiga/EPA)

A man sits on his cart which he attached with National League for Democracy (NLD) party flags along a flooded street in Yangon September 30, 2015. Myanmar will hold a general election on November 8. (Photo by Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters)

Sasha Muir and Margaret Davidson sit in a car as some of the 30 barbary macaques, known as the Middle Hill Troop after living between the top of Gibraltar rock and the town, show what happens when motorists forget to lock their luggage compartments, as Scotland’s only monkey drive-through section opens at Blair Drummond safari park in Stirling, Scotland on October 8, 2015. (Photo by Andrew Milligan/PA Wire)