4 ms·

It's still a supersonic jet, just not the one you want. What is essentially a privately-built supersonic fighter jet is still impressive, but how much more inve

It's still a supersonic jet, just not the one you want. What is essentially a privately-built supersonic fighter jet is still impressive, but how much more investment will they need for the full size passenger version?

Alupis 6y ago
I trust Boom has smart people working on these things, but... model aviation doesn't scale up[1]. It's interesting they're going with a scaled-down model instead of a full-scale testbed. The article seems to incidate they're wanting to go from the scaled-down model as a PoC, then onto an actual airline that JAL want's to fly. I'd think they'd need a full-sized PoC first... > “They want to enjoy a first-mover advantage in supersonic and have invested 10 million dollars.” That's chump change for an airline. Doesn't really signal strong support or anything - more of a curiosity I think. A Boeing 737-800 costs around $100 million, for comparison. [1] https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/3300/why-havent-quadcopters-been-scaled-up-yet https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/3300/why-havent...
- starpilot 6y ago
  Quadcopters don't scale up. Flyable scale models have used extensively in other aviation research: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgDRkNseNxU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgDRkNseNxU
  - Alupis 6y ago
    There's nothing special about a quadcopter. An airfoil is an airfoil.
  - jahewson 6y ago
    Certainly but it’s not quite that simple https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reynolds_number https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reynolds_number
  - grkvlt 6y ago
    quadcopter aircraft scale up fine, for example the bell x-22 [0] research vehicle. 0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_X-22 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_X-22
- Ericson2314 6y ago
  My guess is it's more about marketing and perhaps securing investment from those that do not know about aviation.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
lacker 6y ago
Blake said last year to Forbes that development would take about 6 billion dollars. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeremybogaisky/2019/01/04/boom-raises-100m-to-develop-supersonic-jet-its-going-to-need-a-lot-more/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeremybogaisky/2019/01/04/boom-... So yeah it’s gonna take a lot more money. I hope they get it!
- nordsieck 6y ago
  > Blake said last year to Forbes that development would take about 6 billion dollars. From the article, it sounds like that's just the cost of development. They're going to need a hefty chunk on top of that for lobbying.
- hinkley 6y ago
  They may also find SpaceX eating their lunch, if the rumors of ballistic flights have any substance to them at all. And the EPA doesn't curb-stomp them.
  - dhosek 6y ago
    Ballistic flights make no sense at all. Consider how finicky rocket launches are about weather. So you need to go to the spaceport for your launch, hope that you don't get scrubbed by the weather and save a few hours? Hard to see how that makes any sort of business sense.
    - maccam94 6y ago
      Some of the wind sensitivity comes from the hulls being long and narrow. SpaceX's Starship design will be much wider and thus more robust compared to their Falcon 9 rocket.

Alupis 6y ago

I trust Boom has smart people working on these things, but... model aviation doesn't scale up[1]. It's interesting they're going with a scaled-down model instead of a full-scale testbed. The article seems to incidate they're wanting to go from the scaled-down model as a PoC, then onto an actual airline that JAL want's to fly. I'd think they'd need a full-sized PoC first... > “They want to enjoy a first-mover advantage in supersonic and have invested 10 million dollars.” That's chump change for an airline. Doesn't really signal strong support or anything - more of a curiosity I think. A Boeing 737-800 costs around $100 million, for comparison. [1] https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/3300/why-havent-quadcopters-been-scaled-up-yet https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/3300/why-havent...

starpilot 6y ago
Quadcopters don't scale up. Flyable scale models have used extensively in other aviation research: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgDRkNseNxU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgDRkNseNxU
- Alupis 6y ago
  There's nothing special about a quadcopter. An airfoil is an airfoil.
- jahewson 6y ago
  Certainly but it’s not quite that simple https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reynolds_number https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reynolds_number
- grkvlt 6y ago
  quadcopter aircraft scale up fine, for example the bell x-22 [0] research vehicle. 0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_X-22 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_X-22
Ericson2314 6y ago
My guess is it's more about marketing and perhaps securing investment from those that do not know about aviation.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

lacker 6y ago

Blake said last year to Forbes that development would take about 6 billion dollars. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeremybogaisky/2019/01/04/boom-raises-100m-to-develop-supersonic-jet-its-going-to-need-a-lot-more/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeremybogaisky/2019/01/04/boom-... So yeah it’s gonna take a lot more money. I hope they get it!

nordsieck 6y ago
> Blake said last year to Forbes that development would take about 6 billion dollars. From the article, it sounds like that's just the cost of development. They're going to need a hefty chunk on top of that for lobbying.
hinkley 6y ago
They may also find SpaceX eating their lunch, if the rumors of ballistic flights have any substance to them at all. And the EPA doesn't curb-stomp them.
- dhosek 6y ago
  Ballistic flights make no sense at all. Consider how finicky rocket launches are about weather. So you need to go to the spaceport for your launch, hope that you don't get scrubbed by the weather and save a few hours? Hard to see how that makes any sort of business sense.
  - maccam94 6y ago
    Some of the wind sensitivity comes from the hulls being long and narrow. SpaceX's Starship design will be much wider and thus more robust compared to their Falcon 9 rocket.