Boom Technology

Boom Technology, Inc.
Industry Aerospace
Founded 2014
Headquarters Denver, Colorado
Key people
 Blake Scholl, Co-founder and Chief executive
Joe Wilding, Co-founder and Chief Engineer
Josh Krall, Co-founder and CTO
Products Supersonic aircraft production
Website www.boomsupersonic.com

Boom Technology is a startup company aiming to create a 45-passenger civilian supersonic transport. The Denver-based company was founded in 2014.[1] The company is designing a supersonic aircraft to fly up to Mach 2.2 (1,451 mph, 1,261 kn, 2,335 km/h) which would be New York City to London in 3 hours and 24 minutes, at a proposed round trip cost of $5,000.[1] The company participated in a Y Combinator startup incubation program in early 2016, and has been funded by Y Combinator, Sam Altman, Seraph Group, Eight Partners, and others.[2]

Richard Branson confirmed that Virgin Atlantic holds options for 10 aircraft; in addition, Virgin Galactic's subsidiary, The Spaceship Company, will play a role in manufacturing and testing.[3][2] Boom also says they have options for an additional 15 aircraft to an unnamed European carrier; all options are valued at a combined $5 billion.[4] The projected actual sales price of the aircraft is $200 million (without options and interior).[5]

In March 2016, the company had concept drawings and wooden mockups of the aircraft.[6] In October 2016, the design was stretched to around 155 ft to seat up to 50 with ten extra seats, its wingspan marginally increased, and a third engine added to enable ETOPS-free routes up to 180 min diversion time. The XB-1 one-third-scale prototype, powered by three General Electric CJ610 turbojets (a civilian J85), is anticipated to make its initial subsonic flight in late 2017, with subsequent supersonic flight testing at Edwards AFB.[7]

The XB-1 "Baby Boom" prototype was unveiled in Denver on November 15, 2016. It is 68 feet long, has a 17 ft wingspan and a 13,500 lb (6,100 kg) maximum take-off weight. Powered by three 3,500 lbf (16 kN), non-afterburning General Electric J85-21 engines with variable geometry inlets and exhaust, it should be able to sustain Mach 2.2 with more than a 1,000 nmi range. Constructed of lightweight composites, it has a two-crew cockpit, chined forebody and swept trailing edges. The follow-up supersonic airliner should seat 45 passengers in a normal configuration or up to 55 in a higher-density configuration, and be certificated by 2023.[8]

Its configuration is a conventional compound Delta for low supersonic drag, like a 75% scale Concorde: no low sonic boom as for the QSST or laminar supersonic flow for the Aerion AS2. Due to the low wing aspect ratio (around 1.5), drag is high at low speeds and the aircraft requires high thrust at take-off. Boom wants to use moderate bypass turbofans without afterburners, unlike Concorde's Rolls-Royce Olympus. The only available are jet fighter engines, which have neither the fuel economy nor the reliability required for commercial aviation. No engine manufacturer can develop such an engine based on sales of only 10 options. Boom also needs to address the nose up attitude on landing, noise of the high jet speed engine, and the tripled fuel consumption per unit distance and per seat of a modern wide-body aircraft.[9]

See also

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era
Related lists

References

  1. 1 2 Vance, Ashlee (21 March 2016). "This Aerospace Company Wants to Bring Supersonic Civilian Travel Back". bloomberg.com. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  2. 1 2 Kokalitcheva, Kia (23 March 2016). "This Startup Is Developing Supersonic Planes for Virgin Group". Fortune. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  3. ↑ "Sir Richard Branson confirms Virgin has options to buy 10 supersonic Boom jets". Mail Online. 24 March 2016.
  4. ↑ "Boom, the startup that wants to build supersonic planes, just signed a massive deal with Virgin". TechCrunch. AOL. 23 March 2016.
  5. ↑ http://boomsupersonic.com/faq/#q18
  6. ↑ Szondy, David (March 22, 2016). "Can Boom bring back supersonic flight without the astronomical price tag?". Gizmodo. Retrieved March 22, 2016.
  7. ↑ "Potential Mach 2.2 Airliner Market Pegged At $260 Billion". Aviation Week. October 12, 2016.
  8. ↑ Guy Norris (November 15, 2016). "'Baby Boom' Supersonic Demonstrator Unveiled". Aviation Week.
  9. ↑ Bjorn Fehrm (November 17, 2016). "Will Boom succeed where Concorde failed?". Leeham News.

External links

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