Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue.
Please log in, or sign up for a new account to continue reading. exterior high speed security door
Thank you for reading! We hope that you continue to enjoy our free content.
Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading.
Please purchase a subscription to continue reading.
Your current subscription does not provide access to this content.
Sorry, no promotional deals were found matching that code.
Promotional Rates were found for your code.
Sunny and windy. High 63F. Winds ENE at 20 to 30 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph..
Clear skies. Low 24F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph.
Sunny and windy. High 63F. Winds ENE at 20 to 30 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph..
Clear skies. Low 24F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph.
Boom Supersonic’s XB-1 technology demonstrator completed its sixth test flight Oct. 25 at the Mojave Air and Space Port at Rutan Field, continuing the Colorado-based company’s march toward Mach 1 and supersonic flight.
Boom Supersonic’s XB-1 technology demonstrator completed its sixth test flight Oct. 25 at the Mojave Air and Space Port at Rutan Field, continuing the Colorado-based company’s march toward Mach 1 and supersonic flight.
MOJAVE — Boom Supersonic continued its march toward Mach 1 with its sixth test flight last week, the second test flight in a month for the company.
The XB-1 technology demonstrator flew from the Mojave Air and Space Port at Rutan Field on Oct. 25, reaching speeds of .67 Mach and an altitude of 20,000 feet, according to a company release.
The test flight primarily targeted the airplane’s handling qualities at higher altitude than previous flights and further tested the Flutter Excitement System, used for evaluating the interactions between the airflow and vibrations in the aircraft that could lead to structural failure. The system verifies the design tools used to avoid such negative interactions in flight.
Company officials, however, noted that the test flight experienced a degradation of the GPS signal, which impact the ability to accomplish more during the flight. The matter is under investigation by the Boom Supersonic team, and the seventh flight will occur once the source of interference is identified and corrected.
The XB-1 is the Colorado-based company’s technology demonstrator precursor for a supersonic airliner.
Company officials are expecting to conduct 10 test flights on the way to reaching Mach 1, sometime later this year.
Boom has a Special Flight Authorization from the Federal Aviation Administration to exceed speeds of Mach 1 with the XB-1. The aircraft will continue to fly from Mojave and use the adjacent R-2508 restricted airspace, as well as the nearby Black Mountain Supersonic Corridor and a portion of the Bell X-1 Supersonic Corridor, for those high-speed flights. These areas have long been used for research and military supersonic operations, often from Edwards Air Force Base.
The composite and titanium aircraft is powered by a trio of after-burning GE J85 jet engines, the same engines used in some military applications, such as the T-38 trainer. Another prominent Mojave aircraft, Scaled Composites’ WhiteKnight carrier aircraft, was also powered by two of the jet engines.
More than 20 years after the final flight of British Airways’ Concorde supersonic airliner, Boom Supersonic plans to revive the practice with its own Overture supersonic airliner. The 64- to 80-passenger aircraft is designed to fly at speeds of Mach 1.7 over water and just under Mach 1 over land.
Flight test data collected with the XB-1 will inform development of Overture, validating key technologies including digitally optimized aerodynamics, carbon-fiber composites and its supersonic intakes, which allow the jet engines to carry the aircraft from takeoff through supersonic flight, according to company officials.
Your comment has been submitted.
There was a problem reporting this.
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated. Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything. Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person. Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts. Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
Have the latest local news delivered every afternoon so you don't miss out on updates.
Find out what's happening with the latest events in our community.
victory door Your browser is out of date and potentially vulnerable to security risks. We recommend switching to one of the following browsers: