Editor's note: Boom Supersonic successfully broke the sound barrier with the XB-1 today in a major milestone. Read our coverage here.
Boom Supersonic plans to break the sound barrier during a test flight this morning (Jan. 28). This would mark the first time the company achieves the feat, and you can watch the historic action live.
Colorado-based Boom's XB-1 test vehicle is scheduled to lift off on its 12th test flight from California's Mojave Air & Space Port today at around 11:00 a.m. EST (1600 GMT; 8 a.m. local California time). If all goes well, the piloted demonstrator craft will exceed Mach 1 — the speed of sound — about 25 minutes later.
The XB-1 is a subscale pathfinder vehicle, designed to demonstrate technologies and capabilities that Boom plans to employ a few years from now on a commercial jet called Overture.
If all goes according to plan, the 64-seat Overture will become the first supersonic passenger jet since the British-French Concorde, which was retired in 2003.
The XB-1 first got off the ground in March 2024. The test vehicle has flown 11 times to date, breaking new ground on each liftoff. For example, during its most recent flight, which occurred on Jan. 10, the XB-1 nosed right up to the edge of the sound barrier, reaching Mach 0.95.
Flight 12, however, will be momentous, according to Boom Founder and CEO Blake Scholl. In a Jan. 25 X post, Scholl called the mission "supersonic flight's 'Falcon 1' moment," referring to SpaceX's first-ever successful launch — a September 2008 liftoff of the company's small Falcon 1 rocket.
"It will still be a few years before we welcome the return of the first supersonic passenger. Success is far from guaranteed. Yet, there's more reason than ever to be excited and optimistic," Scholl wrote in another Jan. 25 X post.
Today's livestream should feature some dramatic in-flight views, which will come down to Earth via SpaceX's Starlink satellite-internet service.
"We're livestreaming the flight from our chase aircraft, a Northrop T-38. We've installed a Starlink Mini antenna in the T-38 so everyone can see the flight in real-time," Boom wrote in a Jan. 25 X post.
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