Boom Supersonic’s X-B1 Plane Breaks Sound Barrier, Bringing Supersonic Travel Closer to Reality

The aerospace company Boom Supersonic flew its experimental aircraft supersonically for the first time today, a major accomplishment for a company seeking to fly commercial supersonic airliners by the end of the decade.

Original story follows.

The aerospace company Boom Supersonic will fly its XB-1 demonstrator aircraft this morning with a singular goal: breaking the sound barrier, in a demonstration of supersonic flight that the company sees as key to its mission.

Boom seeks to revive supersonic commercial travel in America’s skyways. Supersonic travel has one obvious benefit—flying much faster than most jets today—but also has drawbacks, including a historic lack of economic viability and the roaring sonic booms it generates, which can rattle windows, and nerves, on the ground. But Boom intends to remind people what they’ve been missing, and aim to demonstrate its supersonic technology today at 11 a.m. Eastern Time.

The XB-1’s first flight took place in March 2024, and kicked off a steady cadence of test flights over the course of the year. The aircraft generally flew faster and higher with each successive flight, with the goal of flying supersonically by the end of the year. Boom is running slightly late, as it’s nearly February 2025, but now the big day is upon us.

You can watch Boom’s historic flight live on the company website starting at 10:45 a.m. ET; the company also made a livestream available on YouTube, which Gizmodo is carrying directly below.

The 62.6-foot-long (19-meter) demonstrator is just that—a demonstrator—which can be seen flying at around 1:10 in the video below. But if Boom’s goals come to fruition, it will debut a supersonic airliner called Overture in 2029.

Overture would be “optimized” for sustainable aviation fuels made from recycled materials, as Gizmodo reported in 2021, but there’s no guarantee that the planes would actually run on those fuels. Making supersonic flight economically sustainable is arguably an even harder challenge than figuring out how to nullify the sonic boom’s disruptive effects on the ground.

Supersonic travel has not been in vogue since the early 2000s, when the Concorde stopped flying. Supersonic commercial flight over land was prohibited by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 1973, in part due to the disruptive crack of sonic booms that faster-than-sound flight generates. That speed is Mach 1, or about 767 miles per hour (1,234 kilometers/hour).

Boom Supersonic is not the only company working on supersonic travel; space agencies are working on making the technology more viable. NASA is currently working on the X-59, a stiletto-like aircraft designed for quiet supersonic flight. The aircraft’s shape would stifle the sonic boom, making it sound more like the thunk of a car door. If a pilot study confirms that NASA’s design successfully reduces the disruptive effects of supersonic flight for people on the ground, the FAA could potentially ease its restrictions on supersonic travel over land.

It’s compelling to see private companies and space agencies work towards a common goal in different ways. NASA is doing serious leg work with its X-59, but if you are interested in supersonic travel and need a more immediate dopamine rush, tune into the Boom link above at 10:45 a.m. ET.

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