The X-59 recently reached a major milestone by completing its first round of ground testing at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in California. This included testing the aircraft’s flight control system, propulsion system, and other critical components.
The goal of the X-59 is to demonstrate the ability to fly at supersonic speeds (over the speed of sound) without producing a disruptive sonic boom. Instead, the X-59 is designed to create a very quiet “thump” when it breaks the sound barrier.
This is an important step towards enabling future commercial supersonic air travel over land, which has been prohibited in many areas due to the disturbance caused by sonic booms.
The X-59 is powered by a single General Electric F414 engine and has a unique long and skinny airframe design to help reduce sonic booms.
NASA plans to begin flight testing the X-59 in 2022, with the goal of conducting community overflight tests in select U.S. cities in 2024 to assess the public’s response to the quieter supersonic thump.
If successful, the X-59 technology could pave the way for a new generation of quiet supersonic passenger jets that could dramatically reduce travel times.
Source: SciTechDaily
