Australian researchers have mothballed a hypersonic scramjet project after a rocket prematurely plunged into the sea off Norway during a failed test.

The University of Queensland (UQ) was leading the project to collect data from the scramjet to test whether the technology could be used for future air and space travel.

The three-year project is part of a $14 million program.

UQ professor Russell Boyce said in a statement the rocket was launched in ideal conditions at the Andoya Rocket Range in Norway but something went wrong.

Scramjets and Scramspace 1 Scramjets are jet engines capable of travelling at hypersonic speeds. Implications for air travel could see a 45-minute flight from Australia to South Africa - but not for another 50 years. The world's first successful scramjet flight experiment was conducted at Woomera, SA, in 2002. Scramspace 1 is a $14m, three-year research project led by the University of Queensland. The 1.8-metre scramjet can reach speeds of 8,600kph. Latest testing took place from the Andoya Rocket range, Norway, 300km north of the Arctic Circle. It is designed to collect data while diving back to Earth eight times faster than the speed of sound. It tests the viability of how these vehicles will fly in the future, putting satellites into space for half the current cost and high-temperature materials used in manufacturing industries. Source: University of Queensland

"The rocket carrying the scramjet launched at 3pm (11pm AEST), however the payload failed to achieve the correct altitude to begin the scientific experiment as planned," he said.

"The team is very disappointed.

"The project represents a lot of time, effort and money by a committed consortium of partners and sponsors."

Professor Boyce says the research team is waiting for the outcomes of an investigation.

"As with all launches, there is a risk that something will go wrong," he said.

"Unfortunately for the Scramspace team, something went wrong, and we are looking forward to hearing from the range on what happened."

The University of Queensland says the rocket project has been discontinued, but the overall program is likely to continue in some form.

Professor Boyce says the team's emotions have been "up and down".

"There were some tears at times, there was relief, there was immense pride," he said.

"This flight experiment that was put together - it really was functioning superbly and it was very sophisticated.

"The team knows they've created something quite special and that alone is a success."