NASA’s Supersonic Revolution: Can the XB-1 Turn 7-Hour Flights into 2-Hour Miracles?

For decades, breaking the sound barrier in commercial flight seemed impossible.

Now, Boom Technology’s XB-1, sleek as a silver bullet, could turn 7-hour flights into 2-hour marvels.

While aerospace giants focus on hypersonic missiles, this startup dreams bigger.

But will supersonic travel redefine our skies or stay out of reach?
And with ticket prices rivaling luxury cars, will it ever become accessible to travelers like you?

Back in the 1960s, when computers were as big as rooms and phones still had rotary dials, a small group of scientists made a bold prediction.

Humans would soon fly faster than ever thought possible.

These weren’t just regular fast planes—they were talking about hypersonic flight, moving at more than five times the speed of sound.

But making these superfast aircraft wasn’t as simple as everyone hoped.

For 60 years, engineers and scientists faced one tough challenge after another.

It was like trying to build a car that could drive through fire—everything had to be completely redesigned from scratch.

The biggest headaches came from two main problems.

First, the rocket engines needed for such high speeds kept overheating or breaking down.

Second, when these aircraft came back down from their high-altitude flights, they faced temperatures hot enough to melt metal.

The heat was so intense it could turn the air around the aircraft into plasma—the same stuff found in lightning bolts.

During the Cold War, from 1947 to 1991, military leaders saw the amazing potential of hypersonic aircraft.

These planes could fly so fast they could reach any point on Earth in just a few hours.

But every time engineers solved one problem, three more popped up.

The materials would crack under stress.

Fuel systems would fail.

Navigation at such high speeds proved tricky.

The military faced a tough choice: spend billions trying to solve these complex hypersonic problems or use that money to build more traditional aircraft they knew would work.

With the Soviet Union building more fighters and bombers every year, they couldn’t afford to gamble.

They needed planes that could fly and fight right away.

An interesting fact many people don’t know: early hypersonic test vehicles often literally melted during flight tests.

Engineers had to invent completely new materials just to handle the extreme conditions.

They even created special cooling systems that ran through the aircraft’s skin like tiny rivers carrying away the intense heat.

Some of the temperatures these aircraft faced were hotter than the surface of Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun.

At these speeds, even the air itself behaves differently.

It stops acting like a gas and starts acting more like a solid wall.

By the 1990s, things started looking up.

Scientists finally cracked some of the toughest problems—how to make engines work at such high speeds and how to protect aircraft from burning up.

Special heat-resistant tiles, similar to those used on space shuttles, helped solve the temperature problem.

Advanced computer systems made it possible to control aircraft at speeds where human reflexes were too slow to react.

While those early struggles with hypersonic flight might seem like ancient history, something changed dramatically in recent years.

What turned these impossible dreams into today’s urgent military priority?

Today, the world’s biggest military powers are racing to build hypersonic weapons, pouring billions into research once considered too difficult to pursue.

These new weapons can fly at least five times faster than sound—that’s about 3,800 mph or fast enough to zip from New York to Los Angeles in under 30 minutes.

The Pentagon sees these weapons as complete game changers.

Unlike regular missiles that follow predictable paths, hypersonic weapons can change direction mid-flight.

They fly so fast and low that most current radar systems can’t spot them until it’s too late.

China and Russia have already tested their hypersonic weapons, pushing the United States to speed up its research.

China shocked military experts in 2021 when it launched a hypersonic weapon that circled the entire Earth before hitting its target.

Building these weapons requires solving mind-bending challenges.

The engines must work in conditions where the air moves so fast it acts more like a blowtorch than normal wind.

The materials need to survive temperatures that would melt steel—around 4,000°F, nearly half as hot as the surface of the Sun.

Scientists have developed special materials called ceramic matrix composites that can handle these extreme conditions.

These materials are lighter than metal but can withstand much higher temperatures.

They’re so advanced they’re considered as valuable as gold in military technology.

The cost of developing these weapons is enormous.

A single test flight can cost more than $100 million, and most tests fail at first.

The United States plans to spend about $15 billion on hypersonic weapons research between 2015 and 2024—that’s about the same cost as building three large hospitals.

Some of these discoveries are already helping in other areas.

The heat-resistant materials developed for hypersonic weapons are being used to make better jet engines.

The computer systems designed to guide these ultra-fast weapons are helping improve self-driving cars.

Even space exploration is benefiting from this research, as similar technologies are needed for spacecraft returning to Earth.

While militaries race to build hypersonic weapons, one company dares to ask a different question.

Could we use this incredible speed not for war, but to transform how everyday people travel across the globe?

Boom Technology is bringing back supersonic passenger travel with their XB-1 aircraft.

Nicknamed Baby Boom, this sleek aircraft is one-third the size of what will eventually become the Boom Overture—a passenger plane designed to carry people across oceans at twice the speed of today’s airliners.

The XB-1 comes 50 years after the famous Concorde first took flight.

The Concorde could zip passengers from New York to London in just 3 and a half hours, but it had a big problem.

It was incredibly loud.

When it broke the sound barrier, it created a thunderous boom that rattled windows and scared people and animals on the ground.

This noise was so disruptive that most countries banned the Concorde from flying over land.

Boom Technology has found clever ways to solve this noise problem.

Their plan is simple but smart: fly at supersonic speeds only over oceans where the sonic boom won’t bother anyone.

When flying over land, the plane will cruise just below the speed of sound—still 20% faster than regular planes but without the window-rattling boom.

The company has spent years testing every part of its design in wind tunnels and computer simulations.

They’ve even created a special system that lets pilots see through the long pointed nose of the aircraft during takeoff and landing—a feature the Concorde also needed because its nose was too long for pilots to see the runway.

What makes the XB-1 special is its use of modern materials and technology that didn’t exist in the Concorde’s day.

The plane uses carbon fiber composites, similar to materials used in Formula 1 race cars, to make it lighter and stronger.

Special heat-resistant materials protect it from the intense friction of high-speed flight.

Three powerful jet engines work together to push the aircraft to speeds of over 1,300 mph.

But Boom Technology isn’t just copying the Concorde.

They’re using advanced computer design tools, 3D printing, and new materials to make their plane more efficient and less expensive to operate.

Their goal is to make supersonic travel available to more people than ever before.

Though tickets will still cost more than regular flights.

Even though the idea of supersonic passenger travel sounds amazing, how exactly does Boom Technology plan to build a plane that can fly faster than a speeding bullet without melting or breaking apart?

The XB-1 is a masterpiece of engineering.

It stretches 68 feet from nose to tail—about as long as four cars parked bumper to bumper.

Yet its wingspan is only 17 feet, much shorter than those of regular planes.

These tiny wings aren’t a design flaw—they’re carefully crafted to slice through the air at incredible speeds.

When planes fly this fast, they create powerful shock waves in front of them.

These waves can slow the plane down and create that famous sonic boom.

To fight these forces, the XB-1’s wings sweep backward at a sharp angle, and the entire plane is shaped to be as skinny as possible.

This design helps the shock waves flow around the aircraft instead of pushing against it.

Three General Electric J85-15 engines power the XB-1.

Each engine can push with a force of 4,300 pounds.

Together, that’s like having the power of 24 family cars.

These engines need special air intakes that can slow down the rushing air before it enters the engines.

Without these special intakes, the superfast air would damage the engine parts.

The real magic of the XB-1 lies in its materials.

The front part uses carbon fiber composites—super strong materials made from thin strands of carbon woven together and hardened with special glue.

These materials are both lighter than metal and incredibly strong.

The back part of the plane, where the engines sit, is made mostly of titanium—the same metal used in spacecraft.

This titanium can handle temperatures hot enough to melt aluminum.

One of the biggest challenges is dealing with heat.

When flying at top speed, parts of the plane can get as hot as 370°F—hot enough to bake cookies.

To solve this problem, engineers created a clever cooling system that uses the plane’s fuel as a giant heat sponge.

As the fuel flows through the plane, it absorbs heat from hot areas before going to the engines.

The cockpit holds one pilot and lots of testing equipment.

The pilot uses advanced computers and sensors to control the plane, as flying at such high speeds requires split-second decisions.

A special camera system helps the pilot see the runway during takeoff and landing since the long pointed nose would otherwise block their view.

Every part of the XB-1 has been tested repeatedly in wind tunnels and computer simulations.

The engineers even created special test chambers where they could heat pieces of the plane to make sure they wouldn’t break under the extreme conditions of supersonic flight.

But Boom Technology faced a surprising challenge when planning their full-size passenger plane.

None of the world’s major engine makers wanted to build the engines they needed.

So, what did they decide to do about it?

In a bold move, Boom Technology decided to create its own engine called Symphony.

This decision came after three of the world’s biggest engine makers—Rolls-Royce, Pratt & Whitney, and General Electric—said no to the project because it would cost too much money to develop.

Symphony isn’t a regular jet engine.

It needs to push the full-size Overture passenger plane to speeds over 1,000 mph while using less fuel than the old Concord engines.

That’s like trying to build a car engine that’s both more powerful and uses less gas than anything else on the road.

To make this happen, Boom brought together a team of experts who had worked on some of the world’s most advanced fighter jet engines.

These engineers previously helped create the engines for the F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II—two of the most sophisticated fighter jets ever built.

They’re using all that knowledge to build Symphony.

Each Overture plane will need four Symphony engines, with each engine providing 35,000 pounds of thrust at takeoff.

That’s nearly three times more powerful than the engines used on the XB-1 test plane.

Together, these four engines will give the Overture as much power as 40 race cars.

The company is working with three major partners to build Symphony.

Florida Turbine Technologies is helping design the engine.

StandardAero will take care of maintenance.

GE Additive is using 3D printing to make some engine parts.

Using 3D printing for engine parts is a new approach that helps make complicated pieces that would be very hard to build any other way.

The Symphony engine will use some clever tricks to work efficiently.

It will have a special cooling system that keeps the engine parts from getting too hot and advanced materials that can handle extreme temperatures.

The engine will also be designed to run quieter than older supersonic engines, making it more neighborhood friendly when taking off and landing.

One of the biggest challenges is making these engines reliable enough for regular passenger flights.

Unlike military planes that only fly short missions, passenger planes need to fly several times a day, every day.

The Symphony engine needs to handle this heavy workload while still maintaining its incredible performance.

Creating powerful engines is one thing, but the real test comes when the plane takes to the sky.

So, how is the XB-1 performing in its journey to break the sound barrier?

After years of careful preparation, the XB-1 finally spread its wings and took flight on March 22nd, 2024.

But getting to this point wasn’t simple.

Like learning to ride a bike, the team had to start slow and steady before picking up speed.

First, the plane needed its driver’s license—called an airworthiness certificate—from the Federal Aviation Administration.

This special permission proves the aircraft is safe enough to fly.

The XB-1 earned this certificate in August 2023 after passing strict safety checks.

Before the first flight, the team ran hundreds of tests on the ground.

They tested the engines while the plane was tied down, making sure everything worked perfectly.

Then came the taxi test.

Like a baby taking its first steps, the plane rolled down the runway at slower speeds to check its wheels, brakes, and steering.

During these early tests, the team found three things they needed to fix.

They made the landing gear stronger, adjusted the engine air intakes to prevent stalling, and improved the plane’s stability controls.

These changes were like adding training wheels to make sure the first flight would be safe.

The big moment came when test pilot Bill Shoemaker took the XB-1 up from Mojave Air and Spaceport in California.

This desert location was chosen carefully.

It has perfect weather for testing and lots of space in case anything goes wrong.

By November 2024, the XB-1 had completed eight test flights.

During its latest flight, it reached a speed of Mach 0.

82—that’s about 630 mph, or fast enough to race a commercial airliner and win.

The plane flew higher than 25,000 feet—about 5 miles up in the sky.

The team is following a careful plan of 10 subsonic flights before attempting to break the sound barrier.

Each flight tests different aspects of the plane’s performance—how it handles turns, how well it climbs, and how its systems work at different speeds and heights.

The FAA has given special permission for the XB-1 to fly faster than sound in a special area called the Black Mountain Supersonic Corridor.

This is like having a private racetrack in the sky where the plane can safely test its top speeds without bothering people on the ground.

If everything goes according to plan, the XB-1 will soon attempt to break the sound barrier, aiming for speeds of Mach 1.

1, then 1.

2, and finally 1.

3.

With the XB-1 proving it can fly safely and fast, everyone wants to know—will these supersonic planes change the way we travel?
Or will they be too expensive for regular people to use?

The business world is already betting big on supersonic travel.

United Airlines has put in orders for 15 of Boom’s full-size Overture planes, while Japan Airlines wants 20.

These airlines believe their passengers will pay extra to cut their travel times in half, especially on long routes across oceans.

Each Overture aircraft comes with a price tag between $200 to $250 million—about the same cost as developing the entire XB-1 test plane.

To put this in perspective, a regular passenger plane like the Boeing 787 costs around $250 million but can carry three times more passengers than the Overture.

The Overture is designed to carry between 64 to 80 passengers, depending on how the seats are arranged.

This smaller size isn’t an accident—it’s part of Boom’s plan to make supersonic flights work financially.

By carrying fewer passengers, the plane can use less fuel and be more flexible about which routes it flies.

But the big question is—how much will tickets cost?

The old Concorde tickets cost about $110,000 in the 1990s—that’s around $20,000 in today’s money.

Boom Technology wants to make their flights much more affordable.

But experts say tickets will still cost about the same as a first-class ticket today—around $55,000 for long flights.

Several factors will affect ticket prices.

The plane needs special fuel that costs more than regular jet fuel.

It also requires special maintenance and can only fly at top speed over oceans.

Plus, the airlines need to make enough money to pay back the high cost of buying these expensive planes.

Other airlines are watching closely to see how United and Japan Airlines do with their Overtures.

If these first airlines make money with supersonic flights, more airlines might join in.

This could help bring ticket prices down over time.

Boom Technology has also sparked interest from cargo companies who want to deliver packages super fast.

While they haven’t announced any deals yet, shipping companies might use supersonic planes to deliver urgent items like medical supplies or important business documents.

The success of supersonic passenger travel will depend on finding the right balance between speed and cost.

If enough people are willing to pay extra to fly faster, we might see these planes become a regular sight at major airports by the end of this decade.

The dream of turning 7-hour flights into 2-hour marvels is closer than ever.

But will it become a reality for everyday travelers?