Live data from Hacker News

Boom Supersonic to break sound barrier during historic test flight today

space.com

31–40 of 124 posts

Re: Boom Supersonic to break sound barrier during historic test flight today

#31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you done an 8 hour flight in economy? It's absolutely miserable. Noise pollution over the Atlantic affects literally noone.

Yes and if you're talking about economy you will never be able to set foot on a plane like this either. There are proposals to have this over land as well which I am very strongly against to the point of not wanting a company like this to be successful.

> There are proposals to have this over land as well which I am very strongly against to the point of not wanting a company like this to be successful

Air NIMBY!

On a serious note, the only way this gets overland approval is if it’s comparably loud to existing options. Which given the work that’s been done on sonic booms, and some of the old kit that still flies, isn’t as hard as you’d think.

Re: Boom Supersonic to break sound barrier during historic test flight today

#32

In what way will this be better than the Concorde? Definitely not cheaper.

It could be better in the sense of actually flying, which the Concorde no longer does. Newer technology and lessons learned from the Concorde will probably also make it safer although that's harder to predict.

Re: Boom Supersonic to break sound barrier during historic test flight today

#33
A cautionary video "Is Commercial Supersonic Doomed to Fail?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=je5R3_br8So

Boom is having to develop their own engines, which is a huge ask, especially on the schedule they are promising.

(spoiler: the video's answer is "yes")

Re: Boom Supersonic to break sound barrier during historic test flight today

#34

[flagged]

> don't want boom supersonic to succeed

You’d prefer we buy them from China? If the physics works, it works and will happen.

> military (and concord I guess) have had this technology for nearly a millennium

Since the millennium, maybe? Charlemagne wasn’t flying in a supersonic PJ.

And no, the military has not obviously solved large-body, sustained and fuel-efficient (i.e. non-afterburning) flight. The USAF didn’t get supercruise until the F-22 [1]. (The Concorde is the only non-military example.) It’s a tremendously new technology, as are modern numerical methods for fuselage and shockwave modelling.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supercruise

Re: Boom Supersonic to break sound barrier during historic test flight today

#35
post #6

[flagged]

> the entire premise of 2-3 hour faster flights over the atlantic is just not that appealing Clearly you don't have kids.

Or aren't interested in buying $10k+ tickets for their kids. For most people this would simply not be an option.

Re: Boom Supersonic to break sound barrier during historic test flight today

#36
post #19

[flagged]

Even if the noise pollution can be solved (or, as others have said, just run it only over the ocean), I don't see how this thing wouldn't pump out an immense amount of CO2. It's definitely cool and would make flying nicer, but in an era where we're trying to decarbonize, get sustainable aviation fuel going, optimize flight paths to avoid contrail warming, etc... I can't lie, there is a big part of me that hopes it do…

> just run it only over the ocean

If you look at the Overture's website (https://boomsupersonic.com/overture), it sounds like that's exactly what they are planning to do - it's advertised as "MACH 1.7 Cruise Speed, 2X Faster over water, 20% Faster over land" - if you take Mach 0.8 as the current cruise speed of subsonic jets, 20% faster would be just barely under the speed of sound.

Re: Boom Supersonic to break sound barrier during historic test flight today

#37

[flagged]

I agree it's not a big deal over the Atlantic, but over the Pacific it could really be huge.

Flights halfway around the world are looong. I've been to Australia once, and honestly not sure I'll ever be back. Just because it is a lot of time in a seat.

Re: Boom Supersonic to break sound barrier during historic test flight today

#38
post #17

[flagged]

I just love spending time in rush hour traffic \s

There are known, demonstrated ways to reduce rush hour traffic that decrease energy and emissions per person.

Supersonic flight will likely increase emissions per person by a larger proportion than the time saved per person. It's a brute-force energy-wasting solution to the problem.

Re: Boom Supersonic to break sound barrier during historic test flight today

#39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you done an 8 hour flight in economy? It's absolutely miserable. Noise pollution over the Atlantic affects literally noone.

Yes and if you're talking about economy you will never be able to set foot on a plane like this either. There are proposals to have this over land as well which I am very strongly against to the point of not wanting a company like this to be successful.

Are you unfamiliar with the work NASA is doing on sonic boom reductions? Or are you too cynical to care?
Post reply on HN