Exosonic, a promising startup founded in 2019 with the ambitious goal of developing a quiet supersonic passenger aircraft, has announced its closure. The company, based in Torrance, California, has been forced to shut down due to the lack of sufficient financial backing. Despite the founders’ belief in the potential of quieter supersonic flights and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for military use, Exosonic could not secure the necessary customer support to sustain its operations. The shutdown was confirmed on November 8, marking the end of the company’s ambitious pursuit to revolutionize air travel.

Exosonic’s flagship project, the Horizon, was a 70-passenger supersonic airliner capable of flying at Mach 1.8 while minimizing the disruptive sonic boom traditionally associated with supersonic flight. This innovation was meant to allow the aircraft to fly over populated areas without causing a disturbance. The design incorporated unique features, including swept-back wings, a long nose, and engines placed under the wings, all of which were intended to reduce the sonic boom. The jet’s efficiency was a key selling point, with early studies indicating a range of 5,000 nautical miles (9,250 km) and fuel consumption a third of that of the Concorde.

However, despite these promising features, Exosonic struggled to secure enough funding to continue development. The company’s statement cited the lack of customer support as a major obstacle, highlighting the immense financial challenges in advancing such a sophisticated project. Although the company’s vision for a quieter supersonic aircraft remains a viable one in the eyes of its founders, the market for such technology has proven difficult to penetrate, especially without significant backing from investors or government contracts.

The closure of Exosonic follows the failure of Aerion, another supersonic aviation startup that collapsed in 2021 after failing to bring its supersonic business jet to market. The challenges of developing supersonic airliners, especially those that can mitigate sonic booms and operate efficiently, are formidable, and the space remains rife with competition. Companies like Boom Supersonic, Hermeus, and Destinus are all pursuing similar goals but face long and uncertain paths ahead.

Boom Supersonic, the most high-profile of the current players, is working on the Overture, a supersonic airliner that can travel at Mach 1.7 and carry 80 passengers. Boom is also testing the XB-1, a subscale jet that will validate the technologies needed for the Overture. Despite the optimism surrounding Boom’s progress, significant challenges remain, particularly the issue of sonic boom mitigation. Much like the Concorde, Boom’s Overture will likely only be able to exceed the speed of sound over oceans, due to the inability to fully address the environmental and regulatory concerns around sonic booms.

Exosonic’s shutdown, while a setback for the dream of supersonic commercial flight, is not the end of the story for this industry. While the road to bringing supersonic travel back to the skies remains long and fraught with obstacles, the technological advancements made by startups like Exosonic and the lessons learned from their efforts will likely influence the next generation of supersonic aircraft. The vision for quieter, faster air travel persists, and despite the financial hurdles, the industry is bound to evolve as new players continue to push for innovation.

AIRDATANEWS