Boom Supersonic opens site in Colorado for testing its engines
The company is leasing a site previously used for supersonic development to test its faster-than-sound engines
Story Highlights Boom Supersonic opens site near Denver to test its engines.
CEO Blake Scholl said site is cheaper than renting government space.
Boom finished factory last summer in Greensboro NC where it plans to build supersonic jets.
Boom Supersonic has opened a test site near its Colorado headquarters for developing the engine for the jetliners it plans to build in Greensboro, the company announced Friday.
The site in the Colorado Air and Space Port east of Denver will support testing of the 12-foot-long core of the engine, which consists of the compressor, combustor and turbine.
Data from core tests will allow Boom to refine engineering and manufacturing design, and the company expects to expand the site next year for full-scale testing of the entire prototype of the engine, named Symphony.
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Blake Scholl, founder and CEO, Boom Supersonic
Lloyd Whittington
A British space company that developed propulsion systems had been a tenant of the Colorado Air and Space Port. Boom founder and CEO Blake School said in a press release announcing the test site that the company now has an independent test facility for a supersonic engine for less than it would cost to rent a government facility.
Boom has its headquarters in Centennial in the Denver metro area.
Boom intends to design Symphony to allow its Overture jet to fly at altitudes that can take advantage of certain atmospheric conditions and winds that refract sound-boom waves away from the ground. That could allow flights over land without the sonic boom that can limit supersonic routes, opening up far more uses than the transcontinental, over-ocean flights Boom has largely touted up to now.
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Rendering of Boom Supersonic's Overture cruising at sunset.
Boom Supersonic
Boom announced its Greensboro plan in January 2022, forecasting hiring 1,700 jobs, though Scholl has since said it expects 2,400 eventually as it scales up. Its event marking completion of the factory building last June drew the governor and other state leaders.
It has 130 orders and pre-orders from United Airlines, American Airlines, and Japan Airlines, representing the first five years of production in Greensboro.
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