(upbeat music)
- Welcome back.
Today, I'm visiting where the future supersonic travel
is being built.
Follow me.
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- First thing is this is an experimental aircraft.
- A cruise twice as fast as any other airliner today.
- [Greg] It can fly up to about 50,000 feet.
- They're actually going to be landing looking at a camera.
When you're on approach,
your nose is going to be up in the air.
Your angle of attack is going to be 12 to 15 degrees nose high.
- [Sam] Wow, very hard to land.
- What do you think this component right here is?
- Absolutely no idea.
Supersonics always like a very sharp pointy nose, right?
But I don't understand what all this does.
(powerful music)
(upbeat music)
- Boom has been around for about eight years now.
And what we're looking at here are the wind tunnel models
for our XB-1 supersonic demonstrator.
Now, one of the things that's exciting
about working on supersonic now
is that most of the iteration,
most of the development can actually happen in simulation
where we can run hundreds, if not thousands
of potential aeroplane designs through virtual wind tunnels
in order to test a lot of different aeroplane designs
and ultimately arrive at the best aerodynamics possible
for the aeroplane.
But to do that, we have to get the simulations calibrated.
And so XB-1 went through three rounds
of wind tunnel testing.
This was the first one, which, really the purpose
of it was to gather calibration data
so that we could then iterate in simulation.
So this design is actually pretty different
from the final XB-1, the tail on this
is significantly smaller, the wingspan is newer,
the wing geometry has completely changed
since we did this model, but this allowed us
to get all the data we needed to calibrate our simulation.
I will show you the second one tunnel model,
this is from 2017,
this was to confirm the calibration accuracy
of our simulation.
So you can tell here that by this test
the aeroplane design had evolved significantly.
Okay, so this is the third and final wind tunnel model
for XB-1, the supersonic demonstrator,
the prototype for Overture,
and next Sam let's go out to the hanger
and you can see the full scale 70 foot long, 22 foot wide,
real XB-1 aeroplane.
(upbeat music)
- Hi, my name's Greg Krauland, I'm chief engineer
of the XB-1 aircraft.
So this aeroplane,
so first thing is this is an experimental aircraft.
The plane is about 70 feet long from tip to tail.
It's primarily made out of carbon fibre reinforced plastics
or just commonly referred to as carbon fibre.
So the fuselage, we have a bay that holds most
of the systems of the aircraft, and then there's fuel,
and then the landing gear.
And if you guys follow me, I can show you
the engines on the plane.
So these engines, there's three of the engines
on the vehicle.
There's one on the left hand side,
there's one in the centre, which is positioned the-
- [Sam] The one in the centre there, I see.
Yeah, the top.
- [Greg] Yep, so that's the inlet that's where the air...
- [Sam] I don't see inlet, so the second one is...
- [Greg] It's back in the centre...
- [Sam] Back there?
- And then there's one on the- - Other side.
- on the right hand side as well.
So the engines, they're J85-15 engines.
This is the area where the single pilot will sit,
very similar in traditional controls,
we have a single stick, we have one throttle lever
for each of the three engines.
- I wanted to know how high this aeroplane will fly,
how fast it'll fly, and also the range.
- This aeroplane basically will fly,
it can fly up to about 50,000 feet.
This aeroplane will fly, will take it to
about mock 1.3 in our initial testing.
- So Greg, the supersonics always like a very
sharp pointy nose, right?
But I don't understand what all this does.
- For an experimental aircraft,
and really for any flight test aircraft
we have to give very accurate aerodynamic data.
And so what this actually is,
is this doesn't have anything to do
with supersonic necessarily.
This is a more piece of instrumentation
that allows us to get very accurate information
about the flight angles of the aircraft,
how nose high or nose to the side it is,
it allows us also to get very accurate air speed data.
Sam, we look forward to seeing you at the first flight.
- [Sam] See you there.
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- [Jeff] All right Sam, you ready to fly the XB-1 simulator?
- Right, are we going super sonic?
- We can absolutely go supersonic.
- Then I'm in.
- [Jeff] All right, then let's get flying.
- [Sam] All right.
- What we're going to do, I'm going to set you up
in the SIM here, in just a second,
we're going to start off with the landing phase.
So the most challenging thing for our pilots
to do in this aircraft is actually landing it.
The reason is because,
number one, the aircraft handling qualities are a little bit
more challenging than a normal aircraft,
and you're going to be landing off of a display here.
So you're actually going to be landing, looking at a camera,
that's down here on the nose here.
The reason you're having to land using this camera
is because when you're on approach
your nose is going to be up to the air,
your angle of attack it's going to be 12 to 15 degrees high.
So even though we're sitting here flat on the ground
when we're actually in the air
the nose will be way up there. - Wow.
- [Jeff] And you won't be able to see the runway
up your nose.
You'll have the peripheral view.
Here's your throttles right here,
so you can put your left hand on the throttles
and you're going to shoot for 175 to 190,
and this is your air speed right here.
And I'm going to reset you 'cause right now
you pointed the ground.
And the, so you can see the runway there off the nose.
- [Sam] Stall, stall.
Ugh.
Oh. (chuckles)
It's not easy, this thing is very hard to land.
- [Jeff] Yet, the handling qualities on this aircraft are
Level 2. - Definitely, (chuckles)
definitely needs some skill set test pilot
to land on this aeroplane.
Okay, too much speed in.
Slow down, slow down, slow down.
- [Jeff] There you go.
- [Sam] Oh, it doesn't want to come down.
Flying to the runway.
Look at how's this one, (indistinct) left rubber.
Hey, I'm back on the air again,
I bounced. - Yeah.
- [Sam] Okay, after burner kick in.
Oh, I'm still fighting.
Oh, I crashed into a tree.
Oh no. (chuckles)
I tried six approaches, I failed every time,
I'll just go back to the passenger now.
- You did just fine.
(upbeat music)
- Hi, my name is Ruslan
and I am one of the manufacturing engineers
here at Boom Supersonic.
And here behind me, we have 3D printers that we have used
for the fabrication of XB-1.
3D printing and additive manufacturing
was a huge influence for the build of XB-1.
And I would love to show you guys some of the parts
that we printed on these machines.
All right, Samuel what do you think
this component right here is?
- [Sam] Absolutely no idea,
but I know this one as any pilot would know,
this is a rubber panel.
- [Ruslan] Exactly, so this...
- [Sam] But what is this?
You got to tell me what is this though.
- This one is one of the coolest prototypes
that we made here at boom, in my opinion,
it is a roll ratio changer.
So the mechanism of this device is very simple,
you have an input lever and an output lever
along with a ratio adjust.
And so basically XB-1 is very much
like your car going down the freeway,
the faster you go, the more sensitive your steering wheel is
to any movements.
And so as the aircraft speeds up
you want to make sure that the input of your roll stick
is going to be proportional to the output.
So basically if I have this ratio adjust
and when I move my input
you could see that the output moves at its full swing.
However, if I adjust my roll ratio away
the output gets reduced to about half its original play.
And so this is very, very important.
So that during flight when the aeroplane
is flying faster than the speed of sound
a very slight movement to the stick
isn't going to cause the aeroplane to become uncontrollable.
- It's the 3D printing actually give you some benefit,
you can trial an error. - Exactly.
- Before you, in the old days, you don't have this,
you order a part and then it takes longer time to work out.
Right? - Exactly.
That's the biggest benefit 3D printing is rapid prototyping.
You could hit-go on the machine,
and a couple hours later,
you have a part sitting in the tray,
In order to make parts you need to have the material
to make the parts out of.
And these machines use this little fine filament
that gets fed into the machine,
it gets heated through an extrusion tip
and it gets printed on the bed.
Well, Sam, I spent about half an hour
and I made a little gift for you.
- Let's see. - It's right off.
- This is like the picking a cookie here.
Oh my God- - Yes exactly that.
- this is my logo, how cool is this.
- A little memory for both Sam and myself-
- Yeah. - Of this visit
at Boom Supersonic. - Yeah, very nice.
(upbeat music)
Now Blake, we all want to notice realistically
how far are we away from supersonic again?
- Really close, finally.
So we're in the final stages of ground testing
the XB-1 prototype as we speak.
That's our one third scale prototype for the airliner.
It's going to be in the air
in just a few months and we're going to be in production
on the first really large scale manufacturing
supersonic airliner in two years.
- So in two years you start making the plane.
- Two years. - When do you target
first passenger flight?
- Yeah, so I'll give you the whole timeline.
So two years in 2024 will be in production,
in 25 we'll have the first Overture airliner
off the assembly line,
in 26 we'll be in the air.
Then the question really is how long does it take
to get through all that safety certification testing
to be ready for passengers?
Publicly we've said 2029 for first passengers.
- Why you want to build a supersonic aeroplane?
- I think we need it.
I'll tell a personal story.
When I was a kid, I was lucky,
I grew up with my grandfather just an hour and a half away,
and I got to see him virtually every weekend,
he taught me how to do so many things.
There's no way I'd be an entrepreneur without his influence
but fast forward a generation,
I have three kids who had a pretty special grandpa too,
but he lived 18 hours away in Hong Kong,
sadly he passed last year.
The kids got to meet him maybe three or four times
their entire lives because 18 hours is just too long,
especially for the very young or the very old.
And if we cut that flight time in half,
it's not about saving time,
it's about taking trips that otherwise we wouldn't take,
it's about the ability for my kids to have actually
gotten close to their grandfather.
And I think many of us have stories like that
of places we would love to go,
people we would love to be close to that we can't,
because flights are too long
and there is no good reason for it.
We can fix it, we can solve it,
we can build a world that is more accessible,
we can build flight that's both,
faster and more sustainable, that's what we want to do.
- How fast would the new supersonic aeroplane
can travel up to?
- It cruise twice as fast as any other airliner today?
So that's mock 1.7,
which is a great, it's a doubling in flight speeds
but also we're able to do it sustainably at that speed,
so good fuel economy, good operating economics.
Also able to make the aircraft quiet
for airport communities, which is a big thing
we think about.
When supersonic service gets announced
at your local airport, we want you excited about that,
not concerned your windows are going to rattle.
- It's all very exciting
but what's the noise level like on Overture?
- Yeah, so there's a number of different things
to think about when you're talking about noise levels.
The Concord was loud on takeoff
and landing because it had afterburners.
Overture will not have afterburners
which makes it both environmentally more sustainable,
as well as reduces landing and takeoff noise.
We'll actually be meeting the same noise limits
that current subsonic aircraft have to certify to
using some new innovations like advanced procedures,
where we're able to automate some of the
configuration changes, throttle changes,
and other aircraft configuration to reduce noise
while still meeting safety and performance requirements.
- I heard that this new Overture supersonic plane
takes sustainable aviation fuel.
Is that true?
- Yeah, absolutely.
So sustainable aviation fuel for anyone
who doesn't know what it is,
is fuel that is similar to fossil fuel
except for it's made from renewable resources,
things like municipal solid waste,
forest and agricultural residues,
and a number of other different feed stocks.
The way to think about it is that
you're closing the carbon cycle.
You're pulling carbon from the air,
or preventing it from being released,
and turning that into the fuel
that achieves net zero carbon operations.
The kind of stuff that Boom is most excited for
is called power to liquid.
This is where you use renewable energy to capture carbon
straight from the air and use that carbon
to create fuel that is nearly identical to fossil fuel
based (indistinct).
And so when you do pull that carbon out of the air
you truly close the carbon cycle,
and that's one of the ways that we,
at Overture, will achieve net zero carbon.
- [Sam] After flowing the Concord
at the twice the speed of sound,
I'm really keen to see if supersonic travel
can happen in the future,
but this time in a more sustainable fashion.
For all supersonic fans the next to watch
is the XB-1 experimental aeroplane
flying in the sky, until then, goodbye.
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