Aviation startup Boom Supersonic took a major step toward its goal of returning commercial supersonic aviation to the skies today as its prototype XB-1 left the ground for the first time this week. The short subsonic flight over the Mojave Desert came a few years later than expected, but it shows that Boom is at least still making progress.
The XB-1 took off at 7:28 a.m. Pacific time Thursday with a maximum altitude of 7,120 feet and a top speed of 246 knots (283 mph). Twelve minutes later, the plane landed at 7:40 am.
Boom’s overall mission is to launch the Overture, the first supersonic commercial aircraft since Concorde ended operations 20 years ago. The company has contracts with major airlines such as American Airlines and United Airlines, as well as manufacturing and development partnerships with Florida Turbine Technologies and GE Additive.
However, some of the biggest news of late has been the loss of partnerships, specifically with Rolls-Royce. The British jet engine maker parted ways with Boom in 2022, leaving the startup to develop its own engines.
Boom’s overall mission is to launch the Overture, the first supersonic commercial aircraft since Concorde ended operations 20 years ago
It is worth noting that these engines were not used in the XB-1. Boom’s demonstrator, scheduled to fly in 2017, will be powered by three 1950s-era J85 turbojet engines, which are used to power older aircraft such as the Northrop T-38 trainer or F-5 fighter jets.
Boom’s full-scale supersonic commercial airliner, the Overture, will use four of the company’s own engines, which are still under development and will be called the Symphony.
In a pre-flight interview, Boom CEO and founder Blake Scholl said the power output of each Symphony engine is approximately three times the combined output of the XB-1’s three J85 engines.
Engine type was just one of many design differences between the XB-1 and the final Overture ship, the most important of which was size. Scholl calls the XB-1 “Overture’s one-third scale prototype demonstrator.”
Scholl said the XB-1 helped validate the simulator data, and its development has borne fruit in Overture’s design – even though the two look nothing alike.
“If your prototype looks exactly like your production aircraft, that actually means you learned nothing. We learned a lot from the design, development and manufacturing of the XB-1, which has led us to improve the Overture ,” Scholl said.
Boom’s demonstrator relies on three 1950s-era J85 turbojet engines
The XB-1 also serves another important purpose: fundraising.
“The way businesses like this are always funded, you raise some money, you demonstrate some milestones. Flying this plane here is a very important one of those milestones. It demonstrates a track record of execution, shows that progress is being made and is able to Access to capital and higher valuations,” Scholl said. “That’s how you look at SpaceX and any other type of private space enterprise, that’s how they operate.”
The current goal is for the Overture to make its first flight in 2030, but the cost of achieving this goal will be high. Boom has raised more than $700 million so far, but Overture’s overall development costs could be as high as $8 billion, Scholl said.
Beyond finances, one of Boom’s most significant challenges may lie in its name.
Today’s regulations against sonic booms mean subsonic overture flights over most major landmasses, restricted only to ocean transits. The deployment of technology developed on demonstrators such as NASA’s X-59, which can convert sonic booms into sonic “thumps,” could ease these regulations in the future.
Even so, flying over water at just Mach 1.7 would roughly cut the flight time between New York and London or Seattle and Tokyo in half.
Another important missing factor is sustainability. Flying twice as fast as current jet airliners, it will inevitably consume more fuel in the process. To make matters worse, the Overture can only accommodate 64 passengers, while the Airbus A380 can carry 853 passengers across the Atlantic.
Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) could prevent supersonic travel from being a greater environmental burden than today’s aviation industry. SAF is made from renewable resources, ideally infused with carbon extracted from the atmosphere through direct air capture. In theory, this would create truly carbon-neutral aircraft fuel.
One of Boom’s most significant challenges may lie in its name
The ultimate availability and distribution of SAF is an industry issue. What’s next for Boom will prove that its engineers can design something that can not only fly, but break the sound barrier.
Of course, that’s the XB-1’s goal, but we still have a long way to go before its sonic boom rocks the Mojave Desert. CEO Scholl said the XB-1 will conduct up to 15 test flights throughout the year, so-called “envelope expansion” missions that will ultimately push the envelope beyond the sound barrier.
There’s also progress on Boom’s “gigafactory” in Greensboro, North Carolina, which Scholl said will open this summer ahead of schedule. But the Overture airliner being assembled there is still years away.
“Our goal remains to have Overture on the air by the end of the decade. There’s a lot of work to be done on this aircraft between now and then, and our goal is to do it safely, but also with a sense of urgency, because We want this aircraft to serve ourselves, our friends, our families and our customers,” he said.
So the dream of supersonic commercial air travel is still moving closer to reality, but those hoping to move quickly through the sky will have to wait a little longer.