Author Topic: Meet the X-59: The Supersonic Plane That Could Change Everything  (Read 626 times)

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Offline Elderberry

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1945 By Peter Suciu 4/23/2022

This week, NASA’s X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology (QueSST) research aircraft returned to Lockheed Martin Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California, after it had completed a series of ground tests in Fort Worth, Texas. The experimental aircraft was developed by Lockheed Martin as part of NASA’s low-boom flight demonstration mission, which will test technology designed to reduce the typically loud sonic boom that occurs when an aircraft that flies at supersonic speeds to a gentle thump that is heard by people on the ground.

The advanced X-plane will begin to conduct flights over communities around the U.S. starting in 2024. NASA’s goal is to collect and provide data to U.S. regulators to help establish an acceptable commercial supersonic noise standard, and to lift the ban on commercial supersonic travel over land, which could reduce cross-country flight times drastically.

X-59 Ground Tests

During its recent time at Lockheed Martin’s Texas facility, structural and fuel calibration tests were completed on the aircraft in preparation for final integration and taxi testing back in Palmdale.

More: https://www.19fortyfive.com/2022/04/meet-the-x-59-the-supersonic-plane-that-could-change-everything/