In early November, the Boom Supersonic XB-1 demonstration airplane made its eighth flight, setting new altitude and speed records. It’s another step in realizing the company’s ambitious goal of bringing commercial supersonic flight back to American skies.
XB-1’s new achievements
On November 16, the XB-1 reached an altitude of 7,632 meters, the highest altitude of its flights. The flight duration was 54 minutes and the maximum speed reached Mach 0.82 (870 km/h). This is the highest performance for XB-1 since the first flight, which took place in March 2024.
Boom plans several more subsonic flights before the end of the year, after which the plane will attempt to break Mach 1 speed of sound — that’s about 1,234 km/h. Reaching this speed is accompanied by a sonic boom – a loud explosion that occurs when the sound barrier is overcome.
Prospects for revival of supersonic flight
Supersonic passenger transportation became unavailable after Concorde flights ended in 2003 due to high cost and noise impacts. Specifically, in 1973, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) prohibited civilian supersonic flights over land because of the adverse effects of sonic booms.
However, today Boom Supersonic and other organizations are looking for ways to bring back supersonic travel. In parallel with the XB-1, NASA is developing the X-59 airplane, which should minimize sound barrier noise. According to engineers, the boom of this airplane will sound like closing car doors. The success of this project could change FAA rules to allow supersonic flights over land.
Commercial future of supersonic airplanes
Boom Supersonic’s goal is to build the Overture passenger airplane. The XB-1 acts as a technology demonstrator for this project. Although Overture will be able to break the sound barrier, flights over land are planned at Mach 0.94 (998 km/h), about 20 percent faster than conventional air travel.
Successful demonstration of the XB-1 and X-59 technologies could open a new era of fast and comfortable flight. With minimal noise impacts to ground residents, the FAA could reconsider the supersonic flight ban as early as 2027.
We previously reported on how China adapted Starlink to detect stealth airplane.
Provided by livescience.com
