This week, aviation startup Boom Supersonic sent a prototype of the supersonic XB-1 aircraft on its first test flight. The company's main goal is to produce the first commercial supersonic passenger aircraft since Concorde was retired 20 years ago.
The XB-1 prototype took off on Thursday at 17:28 Moscow time, reached a maximum altitude of 2170 meters, reached a speed of 455 km/h and landed at 17:40. Since Rolls-Royce refused to supply Boom Supersonic engines a couple of years ago, the company had to develop its own – although the XB-1 did not fly with them. The test launch, originally planned for 2017, used three J85 turbojet engines from the 50s, which were also equipped with vintage F-5 fighters. Boom's supersonic Overture jet will use four proprietary Symphony engines, each three times more powerful than three J85s combined. The startup has already secured contracts with major airlines like American Airlines and United Airlines, as well as manufacturing and development partnerships with Florida Turbine Technologies and GE Additive.
According to company founder and CEO Blake Scholl, the launch of the XB-1 prototype is an important milestone in the company's history.
“If the prototype is no different from the production model, then you haven’t learned anything. And we've learned a lot from the design, development and production of the XB-1 that will allow us to improve Overture. Such ventures always start with a search for capital, but then need to demonstrate results. And the flight of the XB-1 is one of the most important results (of our work). It shows that we are on the way to the goal, and this will attract even more funding. All private aerospace enterprises like SpaceX are built on this,” he commented.
Overture is slated to launch for the first time in 2030, but development won't come cheap: Boom Supersonic has already raised more than $700 million, but Scholl estimates the total cost could reach $8 billion. And besides financing, the company will have to solve other problems.
Modern air travel regulations prohibit supersonic flight over most land masses. However, experimental developments in the field of sound pressure reduction like the X-59 QuessT (Quiet SuperSonic Technology) may prompt legislators to reconsider them. But even Mach 1.7 over the ocean will halve the flight time from New York to London or from Seattle to Tokyo.
The long-standing problem of supersonic aircraft has not gone away either – increased fuel consumption with a rather modest capacity. Thus, Overture will be able to transport only 64 passengers across the Atlantic at a time versus 853 for the Airbus A380. And this is not only an economic, but also an environmental problem. The use of environmentally friendly aviation fuel (Sustainable Aviation Fuel, SAF) could reduce the burden on the environment, but not everything is so simple with it.
According to Scholl, the XB-1 still has about 15 test flights left before the aircraft eventually breaks the sound barrier. In the meantime, Overture's first flight is still many years away.
“We still hope to launch Overture before the end of the decade. There is still a lot of work ahead, and we have to take proper care of flight safety. However, we don’t want to delay this because we are building this airplane for ourselves, our friends, our families and our customers,” Scholl said.
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