5 ms·

Not a lot to go on here. Boom projects first flight in 2026 for the Overture. They seem to be fairly close to first flight with their XB-1, but it has not flown

Not a lot to go on here. Boom projects first flight in 2026 for the Overture. They seem to be fairly close to first flight with their XB-1, but it has not flown yet. I congratulate them on getting funding, but all the hard parts are ahead. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boom_XB-1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boom_XB-1

Rebelgecko 4y ago
Awkward... The website FAQs still say "XB-1 test flights are planned for early 2022."
- brandmeyer 4y ago
  Way more delayed than that. Once upon a time, they were planning on test flights in 2017. Then 2018. Then 2019. Then 2020. Etc. https://interestingengineering.com/culture/boom-xb1-supersonic-test-flights https://interestingengineering.com/culture/boom-xb1-superson... https://www.denverpost.com/2017/06/20/centennial-boom-supersonic-airplane-design/ https://www.denverpost.com/2017/06/20/centennial-boom-supers... https://www.flightglobal.com/strategy/paris-boom-xb-1-schedule-slips-while-jal-eyes-overture/133222.article https://www.flightglobal.com/strategy/paris-boom-xb-1-schedu...
- 0x457 4y ago
  XB-1 is a prototype plane for R&D. It's target first flight now is fall 2022. Overture is a production model for commercial operations.
  - hef19898 4y ago
    Ehich measn, technically and legally, XB-1 isn't an aircraft. As pointed out elsewhere, the hard stuff is up ahead. Cudos so for BOOM for having customers signed on, something a lot of eVTOL companies only managed to do very recently.
zionic 4y ago
By 2026, with the typical delay till 2028 they’ll face the prospect of Earth-2-Earth starship flights
- ac29 4y ago
  Given that Starship hasnt even had its first unmanned orbital test flight yet, getting man rated and ready for commercial flights by the general public within 4-6 years seems unlikely.
- jayzalowitz 4y ago
  yeah, id put that in the 30s, thers a lot more risk there.
  - rnk 4y ago
    earth to earth starship flights are way away and will be vastly more expensive. Plus more risky. You are lifting that giant ship up into space. It must be less efficient than a winged flyer - even a fast one like boom's, because it won't need so much energy to get out of the atmosphere like a starship has, right? I want starship to succeed but I'm guessing it will be so much more expensive and risky.
zymhan 4y ago
They still don't have an engine that allows them to fly supersonic...
- chroma 4y ago
  Boom's original bet was that they could use better aerodynamics and materials to get supersonic speeds using existing engines. This saves a ton of time and money since you don't need to get the engines certified. The prototype uses three non-afterburning GE J85 engines[1], which produce 2,950 lbs of thrust each. It should have a top speed of mach 2.2. The main issue is that their production aircraft will need more powerful engines, and modern civilian airliner engines have large fans, high bypass ratios, and high compression ratios, all of which make them difficult to adapt to supersonic flight. It looks like their plan is to collaborate with Rolls-Royce to build a suitable engine using an existing engine core. I hope they can pull it off. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Electric_J85 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Electric_J85

Rebelgecko 4y ago

Awkward... The website FAQs still say "XB-1 test flights are planned for early 2022."

brandmeyer 4y ago
Way more delayed than that. Once upon a time, they were planning on test flights in 2017. Then 2018. Then 2019. Then 2020. Etc. https://interestingengineering.com/culture/boom-xb1-supersonic-test-flights https://interestingengineering.com/culture/boom-xb1-superson... https://www.denverpost.com/2017/06/20/centennial-boom-supersonic-airplane-design/ https://www.denverpost.com/2017/06/20/centennial-boom-supers... https://www.flightglobal.com/strategy/paris-boom-xb-1-schedule-slips-while-jal-eyes-overture/133222.article https://www.flightglobal.com/strategy/paris-boom-xb-1-schedu...
0x457 4y ago
XB-1 is a prototype plane for R&D. It's target first flight now is fall 2022. Overture is a production model for commercial operations.
- hef19898 4y ago
  Ehich measn, technically and legally, XB-1 isn't an aircraft. As pointed out elsewhere, the hard stuff is up ahead. Cudos so for BOOM for having customers signed on, something a lot of eVTOL companies only managed to do very recently.

zionic 4y ago

By 2026, with the typical delay till 2028 they’ll face the prospect of Earth-2-Earth starship flights

ac29 4y ago
Given that Starship hasnt even had its first unmanned orbital test flight yet, getting man rated and ready for commercial flights by the general public within 4-6 years seems unlikely.
jayzalowitz 4y ago
yeah, id put that in the 30s, thers a lot more risk there.
- rnk 4y ago
  earth to earth starship flights are way away and will be vastly more expensive. Plus more risky. You are lifting that giant ship up into space. It must be less efficient than a winged flyer - even a fast one like boom's, because it won't need so much energy to get out of the atmosphere like a starship has, right? I want starship to succeed but I'm guessing it will be so much more expensive and risky.

zymhan 4y ago

They still don't have an engine that allows them to fly supersonic...

chroma 4y ago
Boom's original bet was that they could use better aerodynamics and materials to get supersonic speeds using existing engines. This saves a ton of time and money since you don't need to get the engines certified. The prototype uses three non-afterburning GE J85 engines[1], which produce 2,950 lbs of thrust each. It should have a top speed of mach 2.2. The main issue is that their production aircraft will need more powerful engines, and modern civilian airliner engines have large fans, high bypass ratios, and high compression ratios, all of which make them difficult to adapt to supersonic flight. It looks like their plan is to collaborate with Rolls-Royce to build a suitable engine using an existing engine core. I hope they can pull it off. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Electric_J85 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Electric_J85