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Boom Supersonic CEO says they’ve cracked supersonic flight with ‘no audible sonic boom’
updated on Feb 10, 2025 at 9:19 PM (UTC+4)
The CEO of Boom Supersonic has an announcement to shout from the rooftops: the company has ‘cracked’ supersonic flight with ‘no audible sonic boom’.
The journeys will be up to 50 percent faster. It was quietly demonstrated on XB-1’s first supersonic flight three times (pun intended). Its name? ‘Boomless Cruise’.
Groundbreaking supersonic flight from boom Supersonic
The announcement was made by CEO, Blake Scholl, who explained how it works. “It’s actually well-known physics called Mach cutoff,” he said.
These physics were just theories before XB-1 proved it with ‘airliner-ready technology’.
“When an aircraft breaks the sound barrier at a sufficiently high altitude, the boom refracts in the atmosphere and curls upward without reaching the ground.
“It makes a U-turn before anyone can hear it.” The upward trajectory of the boom is all down to cold temperatures at altitude.
The sonic boom never reaches the ground
This atmospheric U-turn requires tech that wasn’t available in the era of supersonic Concorde.
It requires engines powerful enough to break the sound barrier at such a high altitude that the boom can make a U-turn.
Tech now allows us to predict boom propagation precisely. Boomless Cruise relies on the Symphony engines of the Overture airliner and its ‘boomless’ mode that’s designed ‘with enhanced transonic performance’
The mode automatically selects the fastest quiet speed as it advises pilots on the fastest, most efficient altitude based on weather forecasts.
It will be able to hit a top speed of Mach 1.3 – but will usually sit between Mach 1.1 and Mach 1.2.
It’s not the same tech used by NASA and its ‘quiet’ X-59 – as the sonic boom will be completely absent.
As well as the 600+ routes that will benefit from Overture’s existing Mach 0.94/Mach 1.7 hybrid speed, Boomless Cruise is set to add many other practical routes.
These will fly from coast to coast in the US up to 90 minutes faster when permitted by American regulators.
https://supercarblondie.com/boom-supersonic-cracked-supersonic-flight-without-audible-sonic-boom/
https://boomsupersonic.com/xb-1
https://twitter.com/bscholl/status/1888939430833975765
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcMB5kb-PUM
20,000 people vanish in 'Alaskan Triangle' - some think Bigfoot or UFOs could be to blame
UPDATED: 10:43 ET, Mon, Feb 10, 2025
Mysterious theories abound as to why an estimated 20,000 people have vanished within a vast region of the US known as the 'Alaskan Triangle. '
Extending between Juneau, Anchorage, and the town of Utqiagvik (formerly Barrow), this territory is characterized by thick forests, towering icy peaks, and expansive stretches of frozen tundra.
The scant population means there are rarely any witnesses to the mysterious disappearances. Since the 1970s, approximately 20,000 people have been reported missing in the area, prompting spine-chilling hypotheses about their fates.
The disappearance rate is said to be twice the national average, according to the Travel Channel. Reports of UFO encounters have heightened the mystery, with sightings of bizarre triangular craft witnessed drifting through the skies.
Speaking to the History Channel, Wes Smith said: "It's like everything you've ever been taught has gone out of the window, because how is that possible?"
Researcher Ken Gerhard, also speaking with the History Channel, said: "What I found when I was doing my research in the Alaskan Triangle, was that a number of these missing person cases legitimately could not be solved.
"This wasn't just a case of someone being mauled by a bear or falling into a crevasse, I mean, these were often people that were going about their daily lives.", reports the Mirror US.
He added: "They weren't out on some grand adventure and yet ultimately, they disappeared for no good reason."
The 'Alaskan Triangle' is notorious not just for the disappearance of hikers and occasional vehicles, but also for entire planes vanishing under mysterious circumstances.
Just last week, a small plane crashed into ice on the Bering Sea, resulting in the death of 10 people.
The single-engine turboprop plane, operated by Bering Air, was en route from Unalakleet to Nome when it disappeared on Thursday afternoon.
It was located the following day after an extensive search, with all nine passengers and the pilot confirmed dead, marking one of the deadliest plane crashes in the state in the past 25 years.
However, this is merely the latest in a series of tragic incidents. In 1950, a military aircraft carrying 44 people vanished without a trace despite a massive search operation.
Similarly, in 1972, US House Majority Leader Hale Boggs' private plane went missing, leaving no trace behind. Certain missing person cases have left investigators puzzled for decades.
For instance, mountain rescuer Gerald DeBerry disappeared in the White Mountains while searching for a missing woman in 2011. His vehicle was later found, but he was never seen again.
Amid these recurring disappearances, legends of mythical creatures like the Sasquatch, or Bigfoot, have resurfaced. Another local legend speaks of a creature known as Nantinaq, a giant, hairy being from Alaskan folklore similar to Bigfoot.
According to the tale, it terrorized the town of Portlock, Alaska in the 1940s, eventually forcing the villagers to abandon their homes and flee.
"With so much fantastic habitat and so few people to compete with, Sasquatches basically have the run of Alaska," cryptozoologist Cliff Barackman told The Daily Star.
https://www.the-express.com/news/us-news/163197/20-000-people-have-vanished-alaskan-triangle-people-think-bigfoot-ufos-might-responsible
Star Trek legend William Shatner believes aliens exist - but they haven't made it to Earth yet
15:38, 10 Feb 2025
Star Trek legend William Shatner is confident that alien life exists- but doesn't believe intergalactic visitors have boldly gone to Earth yet.
The actor revealed that he doesn't believe that ETs have abducted humans either, despite hundreds of people's claims.
When asked whether alien life is already here, Shatner, who has been to space with billionaire Jeff Bezos, replied: "No, not yet.
“I don't think the little beeps on the radar screen are unidentified flying objects. There's something, but it's not a foreign guy saying, 'I'm going to land.
I see a guy in the Florida swamps, I'll pick him up instead of the President of the United States.' But I do believe that life flourishes in the universe. "
Shatner did say he felt alien life exists, though. "We are finding out that the building blocks of life are all around us…universal. We see meteorites that carry the building blocks of life,” he said.
"So in my imagination, my humble opinion, life is flourishing in every direction. Life on earth, for example, is demanding. There's life everywhere wanting to exist.”
The 93-year-old spoke exclusively on the red carpet at The 52nd Annual Saturn Awards, where he was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Shatner, who is most famous as Captain James T Kirk in the Star Trek TV series and film franchise, flew to space on October 13, 2021.
Then aged 90, he became the oldest person to ever travel into space. “It profoundly changed me,” he added. “I grieved for the world. We are in real trouble. For people to say it (global warming) is a hoax is stunning.
The fires are a result of global warming, with the heating of the earth and lack of moisture and dry vegetation. We have just had a global warming event. It is not going to get better. It is going to get worse.
He continued: “That is what I am in grief for. I saw the beauty from a distance. And I realised it is going to disappear and die…and we walk around with our heads in the clouds."
Shatner admitted that his iconic role, which he played from 1966 to 1994, made him become fascinated about life beyond the stars.
“I became intrigued, not that I wasn’t, by what is out there both physically and spiritually," he said. “Is there life out there? If there is, what is it thinking? What is our fate?
What are we doing? So Star Trek being a science fiction show and conjecturing the future made me think more about that than I would have.”
Shatner’s Lifetime Achievement Award was the highlight of a star-studded Saturn Awards held at the Universal Hilton Hotel.
Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, and writer-producer Bob Gale of Back to the Future were in attendance to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the all-time classic time-travel adventure and to receive The George Pal Memorial Award for its filmmakers and stars. presented the Award to all three.
Other notable attendees included Colin Farrell, Denis Villeneuve, Nicolas Cage, Mark Hamill, Juliet Lewis, Antony Starr, Peter Weller, and Nancy Allen, among many others. All attended to collect and present the Saturn Awards.
This year’s show was dedicated to all those affected by the Los Angeles Wildfires and the true superheroes – the firemen and emergency responders whose bravery, dedication, and sacrifice helped protect lives and property in the face of devastating challenges.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/us-news/star-trek-legend-william-shatner-34649655