NASA Reveals the X-59—Its Antidote to the Sonic Boom

The experimental aircraft is expected to fly 1.4 times the speed of sound, or around 925 mph, according to NASA.

Friday, January 12, 2024 at 05:14 PM ET

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NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft sits on the apron outside Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works facility at dawn in Palmdale, California. The X-59 is the centerpiece of NASA’s Quesst mission, which seeks to address one of the primary challenges to supersonic flight over land by making sonic booms quieter. [Courtesy: Lockheed Martin Skunk Works]

Key Takeaways:

NASA and Lockheed Martin unveiled the X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology (QueSST) experimental aircraft, designed to dramatically reduce the sound of a sonic boom to a "gentle thump."
The X-59's unique, elongated shape and design, including a long nose and an innovative external vision system instead of a forward-facing window, are critical to dispersing shockwaves and achieving this low-boom effect.
The project aims to collect data on community perception of these quieter flights, which will inform NASA's recommendations to potentially revise regulations and lift the 50-year ban on commercial supersonic flight over land.

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A dramatic curtain drop at Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California, on Friday gave the world its first look at the X-59—NASA’s new experimental aircraft designed to quiet the sonic boom.

The one-of-a-kind X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology (QueSST) aircraft is part of NASA’s Low Boom Flight Demonstration project aimed at collecting data to help shape regulations for possible future commercial supersonic flight over land 50 years after it was banned by the FAA due to the noise of the sonic boom.