Break the Sound Barrier.
From Your Garage.

The Prize is sponsored by Boom Technology, Inc. d/b/a Boom Supersonic ("Boom"), together with prize cosponsors Alex Gerko, Electric Capital, Caffeinated Capital, Balaji Srinivasan, Josh Buckley, and Denver Ventures. No purchase or payment necessary to enter. Void where prohibited. This is a contest of skill.

The Prize will be awarded to the first Eligible Team to complete a Qualifying Attempt verified by the Judging Panel. The Prize opens on the date of announcement and remains open until awarded or until December 31, 2030, whichever comes first. Boom may extend the term at its sole discretion. The prize amount may be increased as additional cosponsors join; the amount in effect at the time of a verified Qualifying Attempt applies.

2.1 Individuals and teams — Entry is open to individual people and teams of people, and every team member must be a U.S. Person (a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or person granted asylum). Minors need a parent or guardian to co-sign. Corporate or other entities are not eligible entrants.

2.2 No corporate money — Neither the team nor any campaign entity may have received equity investment, SAFEs, convertible notes, grants, or sponsorship from any venture capital firm, corporation, institutional investor, or government program. Team members' personal funds are permitted, and so are donations from private individuals — including crowdfunding — provided donors receive no equity, intellectual property, or control in return. Boom may request reasonable supporting documentation regarding funding, and material misrepresentation is disqualifying.

2.3 Active builders only — Every team member must materially contribute to the design, fabrication, or operation of the aircraft. Purely financial participants are prohibited and their funds are treated as outside investment under 2.2.

2.4 Amateur-built — The majority of the fabrication and assembly of the airframe must have been performed by team members themselves, for education or recreation, in the spirit of 14 CFR 21.191(g), as reasonably evidenced by the team (build logs, photos, receipts, or similar records hobbyists ordinarily keep). Commercially purchased engines, servos, avionics, and standard hardware are permitted and excluded from the calculation. Complete or substantially complete commercial airframes, kits, or derivatives of existing target drones or missiles are prohibited. Commercial fabrication assistance is limited to discrete components made to the team's original drawings.

2.5 Professional participation — Aerospace professionals may compete on their own time, with their own resources, and without employer funding, facilities, hardware, or proprietary information. The project may not be undertaken in the course of any member's employment or under contract to any third party.

2.6 Excluded persons — Current employees, officers, directors, and contractors of Boom or any prize cosponsor, members of the Judging Panel, and the immediate family and household members of any of them, are not eligible. Persons on any U.S. restricted-party list are not eligible. Boom may exclude any entrant whose participation would create, in Boom's sole discretion, a real or apparent conflict of interest or whose entry violates the amateur spirit of the Prize.

2.7 Registration — Teams must register with Boom (free) before attempting, using the Team Registration Form, identifying all team members and designating a single Team Lead.

A Qualifying Attempt consists of two Qualifying Flights by the same aircraft, completed between local sunrise and sunset of a single calendar day, witnessed in person by the Judging Panel or its designated observers.

3.1 Aircraft — A fixed-wing airplane, maximum takeoff weight 25 kg (55 lb) inclusive of fuel and landing gear, deriving lift primarily from aerodynamic surfaces, which takes off, flies, and comes to a stop under its own control and power on the ground. Expendable or projectile-like vehicles do not qualify: the same airframe must complete both flights and both landings. The only mass the aircraft may shed in flight is fuel. No wings, structure, or any other component may be jettisoned, dropped, or separated at any point.

3.2 Propulsion — Air-breathing propulsion only: turbojet, turbofan, ramjet, pulsejet, or electric ducted fan, in any combination (an air-breathing engine may boost a ramjet to operating speed). No rocket or other non-air-breathing thrust at any point in flight; onboard oxidizer is prohibited, as is thrust from stored high-pressure gas or steam injection.

3.3 Control — The aircraft must be operated by a remote human pilot in real time. Stability augmentation, autopilot functions, and pre-programmed flight profiles are permitted, but a human operator must retain continuous command authority and immediate abort capability throughout each flight.

3.4 Supersonic segment — level or climbing acceleration required — During each Qualifying Flight the aircraft must accelerate through the transonic regime and past Mach 1 under its own thrust, in level or climbing flight, achieving a true Mach number of at least 1.0 sustained continuously for at least 5 seconds. Specifically, for the entire Transonic Acceleration Phase — from the moment the aircraft first exceeds Mach 0.8 until the end of the supersonic segment — barometric altitude (a) may never fall more than 10 m below the highest altitude reached since the phase began (turbulence tolerance), and (b) must show no net loss over the phase. Any descent used to gain or maintain speed anywhere in this phase disqualifies the run: dive or zoom-and-push-over acceleration does not pass the test. Climbing throughout is permitted and welcome.

3.5 Reciprocal headings — The supersonic segments of the two Qualifying Flights must be flown on reciprocal headings (180° ± 10°). Onboard air data is the primary Mach measurement; the reciprocal GPS ground-speed runs corroborate it and bound wind effects.

3.6 Landing and reflight — After the first Qualifying Flight the aircraft must make a controlled landing appropriate to its design (wheeled or belly, on the designated landing area) and be returned to flight the same day. Between flights, teams may refuel, recharge, and make minor repairs, but may not replace major components — defined as: wing or primary wing structure, fuselage primary structure, empennage primary structure, engine, or flight-control computer. The Judging Panel inspects the aircraft between flights.

3.7 Measurement & Verification — Mach number must be demonstrated to exceed 1.0 net of any measurement uncertainty. Entrants may use calibrated pitot-static/air data or GPS/GNSS telemetry augmented with atmospheric data to infer Mach number. Raw data must be provided to the Panel after each flight attempt along with supporting analysis to show that supersonic flight was achieved net of reasonable margin of uncertainty.

3.8 Attempt notice and approval — When your team is ready to demonstrate the feat, notify Boom at prize@boomsupersonic.com. Boom and the team will coordinate a mutually agreeable date and venue with at least 30 days' lead time so the Judging Panel or its observers can attend. Before a Qualifying Attempt is approved, the team must demonstrate that it has complied with all applicable regulations and is taking due care for the safety of personnel and the range. Boom reserves the right to require releases, waivers, and indemnification agreements from all participants prior to approving a Qualifying Attempt. Attempts not witnessed by the Panel or its designated observers cannot qualify.

4.1 Cash — $750,000 (USD), paid to the Team Lead or allocated among team members as the team directs in writing, within 60 days of verification, subject to W-9 collection and IRS Form 1099 reporting. All taxes are the winners' responsibility.

4.2 Stock — In addition, $50,000 of Boom Technology, Inc. stock, valued at the time of issuance at a valuation determined by Boom in its sole discretion, issued to one natural person designated by the team. The winner may be required to execute agreements — including advisory, award, or securities documentation — as necessary to comply with applicable securities laws. Equity in a private company is illiquid, may never become liquid, and may change in value. Nothing in these rules or in any Prize publicity is an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy securities.

4.3 One prize — The Prize is awarded once, to the first verified Qualifying Attempt. If two attempts are verified on the same calendar day, the attempt whose second landing occurred first (UTC) wins.

5.1 The Judging Panel is appointed by Boom and includes independent experts in aerospace, propulsion, and flight measurement. The founding panel: Phil Condit (former Chairman & CEO, Boeing), Tom Mueller (Founder/CEO, Impulse Space; Co-Founder, SpaceX), and Scott Manley (astrophysicist and spaceflight science communicator).

5.2 The Panel verifies eligibility, aircraft conformity, and performance data per the Measurement & Verification Protocol. All decisions of the Judging Panel and Boom are final and binding.

5.3 The Prize is a contest of skill; no element of chance determines the winner.

6.1 Entrants retain all intellectual property in their designs.

6.2 Entrants grant Boom and the cosponsors a perpetual, royalty-free license to use their names, likenesses, team name, and imagery/footage of registered attempts for publicity and educational purposes.

6.3 Verification data may be published by Boom after award, subject to Boom's standard legal review; teams may request confidential treatment of proprietary design details.

7.1 Entrants are fully and solely responsible for the safety of their operations and for compliance with all laws and regulations applicable to their activities. Nothing in these rules is legal advice or an authorization of any kind.

7.2 Entrants participate at their own risk. High-speed model flight is inherently dangerous. To the maximum extent permitted by law, entrants (and, for minors, their parents or legal guardians) assume all risk of injury, death, and property damage, and release, indemnify, and hold harmless Boom, the prize cosponsors, the judges, and their respective officers, employees, and agents from all claims arising from participation.

7.3 Boom will disqualify any team that conducts an unsafe or unlawful flight, misrepresents eligibility, funding, or data, or applies its entry to weapons or weapons-related development or marketing.

8.1 Boom may amend these rules at any time, including the technical criteria, eligibility requirements, and prize structure. Material changes will be published to registered teams with reasonable notice and will not retroactively invalidate a previously verified Qualifying Attempt.

8.2 Boom may suspend, extend, or cancel the Prize at any time, for any reason, at its sole discretion. No entrant acquires any right to the Prize, or any claim against Boom or any cosponsor for expenses incurred, unless and until Boom verifies a Qualifying Attempt and confirms the award in writing.

8.3 Governing law: Colorado. Exclusive venue: state and federal courts in Denver, Colorado.

8.4 If any provision is unenforceable, the remainder stands. These rules plus the published Measurement & Verification Protocol constitute the complete rules.