Boom Supersonic’s XB-1 test plane breaks the sound barrier
UPDATE: The XB-1, using the exact same air corridor used by Chuck Yeager when he became the first pilot to break the sound barrier in 1947, has successfully become the first privately funded and constructed airplane to fly faster than the speed of sound, doing it three times for about six minutes total.
Original post:
—————————
The airplane startup Boom Supersonic is hoping to complete its first manned supersonic flight today, piloted by chief test tilot Tristan “Geppetto” Brandenburg.
The flight will be manned, using its prototype XB-1 test plane.
Since March 2024, Boom has carried out 11 test flights as it gradually pushed the envelope toward breaking the sound barrier. [Today’s] flight of the 68-ft-long (21-m) XB-1 prototype will be conducted in a special air corridor reserved for supersonic aircraft. During the 38-minute flight at an altitude of 34.000 ft (10,000 m), the aircraft is expected to reach Mach 1.1, which is half of the ultimate goal of Mach 2.2.
Once the company completes test flights of XB-1 it will begin building its Overture commercial supersonic plane for sale to airline companies, capable of carrying up to 80 passengers. It already has contracts and financial support from a number of major airlines, including United and Japan Airlines.
I have embedded the live stream below. It has already started.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
UPDATE: The XB-1, using the exact same air corridor used by Chuck Yeager when he became the first pilot to break the sound barrier in 1947, has successfully become the first privately funded and constructed airplane to fly faster than the speed of sound, doing it three times for about six minutes total.
Original post:
—————————
The airplane startup Boom Supersonic is hoping to complete its first manned supersonic flight today, piloted by chief test tilot Tristan “Geppetto” Brandenburg.
The flight will be manned, using its prototype XB-1 test plane.
Since March 2024, Boom has carried out 11 test flights as it gradually pushed the envelope toward breaking the sound barrier. [Today’s] flight of the 68-ft-long (21-m) XB-1 prototype will be conducted in a special air corridor reserved for supersonic aircraft. During the 38-minute flight at an altitude of 34.000 ft (10,000 m), the aircraft is expected to reach Mach 1.1, which is half of the ultimate goal of Mach 2.2.
Once the company completes test flights of XB-1 it will begin building its Overture commercial supersonic plane for sale to airline companies, capable of carrying up to 80 passengers. It already has contracts and financial support from a number of major airlines, including United and Japan Airlines.
I have embedded the live stream below. It has already started.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Success!
Interesting. Is it the transition to supersonic flight that is ‘hard’ or sustaining the supersonic flight? 3 times back and forth through the speed point make me think it is the former.
geoffc:
take a look here->
“High Speed Flight Simplified Version”
Shell Oil Educational Film
https://youtu.be/4_hASWgu8EY
20:46
“an overview of the challenges of flying close to or above the speed of sound.”
Presents material from three previous Shell films — “Approaching the Speed of Sound”, “Transonic Flight” and “Beyond the Speed of Sound”.
Did I hear right that XB-1 needs afterburner to go transonic? So no supercruise? That’ll certainly be hell on the fuel efficiency this thing can get.
The XB-1 itself doesn’t really need supercruise; it is not, itself, a commercial aircraft. Unless I’m confused, it’s testing the sonic boom muffling tech that’s supposed to allow the actual airliner (production models still around four years out) to regularly operate over people’s homes.