[imagesource:boomsupersonic]

Imagine having breakfast in Cape Town, hopping onto a jet, and being in time for that business lunch in London. Welcome to the age of supersonic commercial travel.

After seven years in development, Boom Supersonic is finally in the last stages of testing its faster-than-the-speed-of-sound aeroplane, and according to founder and CEO Blake Scholl, the first test flight will take place by the end of the year.

Supersonic flight has the potential to revolutionise travel, shaving hours off the length of a trip. The XB-1 will demonstrate the technology that will inform the Overture, the company’s commercial supersonic jet readying for trans-oceanic travel in 2029.

Scholl, who held positions at Groupon and Amazon before founding Boom in 2014, says he believes in a future where more people go to more places. “Think about crossing the Atlantic in under four hours, leaving the East Coast in the morning, and making it to a dinner meeting in Europe on the same day. Think about being able to do a roundtrip to Asia in 24 hours.”

Earlier this year, Boom began taxi tests for the XB-1 in the Mojave Desert, and recently received an airworthiness certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which legally authorises the craft for experimental flight.

Though cars, phones, and other consumer technology have improved exponentially, commercial flying has not really changed all that much since the 1960s. We still fly around in clunky, ‘slow’ airliners. The last time passengers got a taste of super-speed was when the Concorde was still flying, but the French aeroplane was eventually shelved due to high costs, emissions, and noise pollution –  a real issue when you’re going faster than sound.

Supersonic overland flight has been banned for decades due to the noise produced when aircraft break the sound barrier. The sonic boom generates shock waves for miles away, rattling windows, tripping car alarms, and wreaking environmental havoc.

The Overture is designed to fly at Mach 1.7 over water – just a tad slower than the Concorde – and run on any blend of jet fuel, including sustainable aviation fuel. The Overture is shaped to optimise aerodynamics and performance at supersonic speeds, with a large front cabin that tapers toward the rear.

The aeroplane’s dimensions will allow for multiple crew, between 64 and 80 business-class seats, and a boarding area with eight-foot cathedral ceilings, while the narrower back cabin will have one seat on either side.

Supersonic travel doesn’t come cheap. Boom is one of a handful of start-ups undertaking supersonic flight. Spike Aerospace in Boston is developing a supersonic corporate jet. However, in 2021, Aerion Supersonic folded citing challenges raising capital.

NASA and Lockheed Martin are also working on an experimental supersonic jet, the X-59, that cuts the sonic boom from roughly 105 decibels—the sound of a clap of thunder—to 75 decibels, similar to the whir of a vacuum cleaner or the slam of a car door.

[source:robbreport]