The same engine powering supersonic flight wants to power AI

In the future when you use AI, the result may be powered by a supersonic jet engine

Power-hungry data centers are springing up around the country in response to the AI boom

and the question of where to get enough energy to reliably run these data centers needs answers

Boom Supersonic claims to have an answer. The company is dedicated to bringing back air travel that's faster than the speed of sound

Boom recently retired its one-seat experimental aircraft, the XB-1, and is currently in the process of building its full-size passenger aircraft, Overture

But between the XB-1 heading to an aircraft museum and Overture taking flight with paying passengers

there's a lot of testing, research, and development that needs to be done, including on the aircraft's engines

which Boom is manufacturing itself in Colorado. But Boom wants to put its new engines to work inside more than just planes

and this is where the needs of the ballooning AI industry and the development of supersonic air travel come together

Doing the power turbine allows us to self-fund supersonic. AI data centers have already been using airplane engines as a power supply

and engine manufacturers often offer a version of their technology made to generate power on the ground But Scholl says that Boom new supersonic engines provide certain advantages over its subsonic competition which are designed to work at much lower temperatures

So when you take one of these engines and you run it on the ground, say on a hot day in Texas

the only way to take a subsonic engine and have it literally not melt is to throttle it back and spray water in the intakes

AI data centers have been under scrutiny for the amount of resources they require

especially combined with the fact that they are often built in areas where those resources

like water, are scarce to begin with. But Boom's engine doesn't need water for cooling

At 30,000 feet going subsonic, the temperatures are minus 50. At supersonic flight, at 60,000 feet

Mach 1.7, the temperatures are 160 degrees. Because we're designed for 160 degrees Fahrenheit

110, 115 in Texas is like no big deal. Boom's ground-based power turbine is called Superpower

and its aircraft engine is called Symphony. Overall, they're almost identical with a few key differences

Now let's get nerdy for a second here. Engines are really made of two what are called spools

There's an inner spool or high spool, sometimes called the core of the engine

which has a high compressor a combustor and a high turbine Those between the ground engine and the flight engine are almost exactly identical Literally we switch a little bit of fuel nozzles and combustor to go from jet fuel to natural gas

That's the only change. The rest of the design is exactly the same parts. The low spool, which basically takes the fan off the front that's there for the aviation application

replaces it with two compressor stages, and then we add what's called a free power turbine on the back

which is what takes the airflow that would be generating thrust in the air

and instead uses that energy to generate rotational energy that spends a generator that generates 42 megawatts of electricity

So all in all, these machines are probably 80% the same, 100% the same manufacturing, 100% the same fundamental technology

and about 80% the same parts within the ground and the air. So we're going to learn a lot from what we're doing on the ground that we'll be able to translate into a very reliable, very efficient engine for supersonic passenger flight

One of the most common critiques of the AI industry and its rapid growth is that the related increase in energy demand will also likely increase demand for fossil fuels, which many ground-based power turbines, including booms, run on

On the ground, these run on natural gas. That's methane. This is the same fuel that's used on the Blue Origin New Glenn, the same fuel that's used on Starship

I asked Scholl for his response to concerns about AI impact on climate A lot of the fears that we had around climate have just not come to pass And we need a future with all forms of energy We need clean natural

gas. We need solar. We need hydro. I'm really excited about everyone who's working on nuclear

power. We need an energy abundant future with all available sources. And I really believe that all

forms of energy should compete on a level playing field. With superpower, AI data centers can tap

into the power of supersonic jet engines so they're not overtaxing the grid, and Boom gets

an opportunity to test its engine on the ground before putting it into planes and a financial

bridge between its experimental aircraft and the one passengers may someday be able to fly on

What'll be the most tested new jet engine ever to carry passengers? Boom's engines are scheduled to start providing power to its first AI customers in 2027

and the company expects to start carrying passengers on its Overture aircraft in about

five years. Recently, I had an opportunity to visit Boom's test site in Mojave, California

as the team was preparing to break the sound barrier with its XB-1 experimental aircraft

I interviewed the test pilot about what it's like to fly supersonic, and even got to test out the

simulator myself. You can see whether I survived the landing by clicking here. Would you like to

fly supersonic someday? Let us know down in the comments and subscribe for more stories that make

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