SonicFlyer

Exactly this. People who would like to be on another continent within 3 or 4 hours, as opposed to 8 or 12, and can afford to be, will make this potentially viable. Then the technology will become less expensive over time, ideally (unless of course government gets in the way like it often does).



You do realize that NASA is actively doing research on this, and I believe that Boom is working closely with them on it, right?

rickair7777

My thesis here is that technology has advanced a lot over the last three decades but many large, established, hide-bound, bureaucratic organizations are not able or willing to take full advantage of the opportunity to innovate.

People coming in with different mindsets and approaches seem to be able to to move the ball further and faster.

Full disclosure I (and my peers in industry) didn't think spacex had a snowball's chance 15 years ago, we thought it was just tech bros about to find out the hard way that heavy aeropsace is a lot harder than coding phone apps.

Yes you need money. But that's not enough apparently, plenty of vast corporations and governments have money.

rickair7777

That's a very good point.

I can almost assure you that the engine core will be based on something which is already in routine production, and licensed with some custom mods.

I couldn't imagine a clean slate engine for the likes of Boom.

Part of their challenge is selecting and adapting such an engine.

dera

It could even be just backpedaling from a current engine.

CFM56 was developed from a supersonic engine.

2StgTurbine

If that's the case, then this project is doomed to fail. Most "current" supersonic engines are based on engines from the 1960s. The DOD made it work because they didn't care about fuel cost and developed aerial refueling to address the range issues. They are already pushing the envelope trying to make an airframe that doesn't create a sonic boom, I couldn't imagine they would then add the challenge of making a J79-based engine fuel-efficient. Maybe they could get access to a PW F119 engine, but I highly doubt that engine would work well in a commercial aircraft. Commercial engines have very different design requirements than military engines.

That's why Hermeus is pretty much making a brand-new engine for their supersonic aircraft. And even they realize only the DOD can justify the cost of their engines. It's a catch-22. To make a commercially successful supersonic passenger aircraft, you need the latest engine technology to make it work. To design a new commercial engine with the latest technology requires a large order list to justify the development costs.

sailingfun

The major engine manufacturers have all dropped out of the competition to produce a motor for Boom. Non saw a path to profitability.