Aviation startup BoomSupersonic took a major step toward its goal of returning commercial supersonic aviation to the skies today, with the company's prototype XB-1 aircraft leaving the ground for the first time this week. This 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. ET on Thursday, reaching 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 Overture, the first supersonic commercial aircraft since Concorde ended operations 20 years ago. The company has signed contracts with major airlines such as American and United Airlines, and has manufacturing and development partnerships with Florida Turbine Technologies and GE Additive.
Some of the biggest news recently, though, is that they've lost partners, 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 Overture, the first supersonic commercial aircraft since Concorde ended operations 20 years ago.
It is worth noting that the XB-1 did not use these engines. Boom's demonstrator, scheduled to fly in 2017, relies on three 1950s-era J85 turbojet engines used to power older aircraft such as the Northrop T-38 trainer or F-5 fighter jets.
The full-size supersonic commercial airliner "Overture" will use four of the company's own engines, which are still under development and will be named "Symphony."
Boom CEO and founder Blake Scholl said in an interview before the flight that 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 significant of which was size. Shuoer calls the XB-1 "a one-third scale Prologue prototype demonstrator."
Scholl said the XB-1 was instrumental in validating 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 machine, that really means you learned nothing. We learned a lot from the design, development and manufacturing of the XB-1 to improve Overture," Scholl said.
The XB-1 also has another important purpose: fundraising.
"Businesses like this always raise capital in a way that demonstrates some milestones. The flight of this plane is one of those very important milestones. It demonstrates a track record of execution, evidence of the progress being made and access to capital and a higher valuation," Scholl said. "That's how you look at SpaceX and any other kind of private aerospace business, that's how they operate."
The current goal is to achieve the first flight of the Overture airliner by 2030, but achieving this goal will be expensive. Boom has raised more than $700 million so far, but Overture's overall development costs could be as high as $8 billion, Scholl said.
Financial issues aside, one of Boom's biggest challenges may lie in its name.
Today's regulations against sonic booms mean that subsonic Overture flights will fly over most major landmasses, only accelerating when crossing oceans. The application of technology developed on demonstrator aircraft such as NASA's X-59 that converts sonic booms into sonic "pops" could relax these regulations in the future.
Even so, flying at Mach 1.7 over water alone can cut the flight time from New York to London or Seattle to Tokyo by about half.
Another big thing missing is sustainability. Traveling twice as fast as today's jetliners will inevitably consume more fuel. The situation is further complicated by the fact that the Overture can only accommodate 64 passengers compared to the Airbus A380's 853 passengers.
Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) could prevent supersonic travel from being a greater environmental burden than today's aviation industry. Sustainable aviation fuel is made from renewable resources, ideally by extracting carbon from the atmosphere through direct air capture. In theory, this would create a truly carbon-neutral aircraft fuel.
The ultimate supply and distribution of SAF is an industry issue. The next step for Boom is to prove that its engineers' design can not only fly, but break the sound barrier.
Of course, that's the XB-1's goal, but it's still a long way to go before its sonic boom shakes the sands of the Mojave. CEO Scholl said the XB-1 will conduct a series of up to 15 test flights throughout the year, so-called "envelope expansion" missions, that will ultimately push the envelope beyond the sound barrier. "
Boom is also making progress on its "gigafactory" in Greensboro, North Carolina, which Scholl said is completed ahead of schedule and will open this summer. However, the passenger aircraft Overture that will be assembled there is still several years away.
"Our goal remains to have Overture airborne by the end of the decade. There's a lot of work to be done on the 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 for ourselves, our friends, our families and our customers."
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.