Ever since the last Concorde razored the skies in 2003, there have been no attempts to create civilian supersonic aircraft that could cut fly time in half. But new jets could bring back supersonic flight within the next decade.

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At least four United States entities are actively designing supersonic aircraft, including Lockheed Martin ‘s commercial airliner and newer companies, like Aerion and Spike Aerospace . One plane design, in particular, caught most of the attention in 2020. Boom Supersonic ’s XB-1 prototype vehicle unveiled at the startup’s Denver hangar brought the dream of returning to supersonic air travel closer to reality. The XB-1 aircraft is a one-third scale demonstrator for Overture, the company’s 55-passenger, three-engine future supersonic airliner, which echoes the earlier shape of the Concorde. Except XB-1 offered its creators an opportunity to explore more advanced designs and manufacturing technologies than were available to Concorde engineers. That included additive manufacturing (AM) technologies to produce some of the most complex part designs. “There are many reasons for choosing that technology [3D printing] over others. There’s a great deal of design flexibility in using 3D printed materials,” asserted Byron Young, Propulsion Structures Engineer at Boom. “Engineers are always trying to […]

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