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 has unveiled the X-59 experimental aircraft, developed by Lockheed Martin, designed to reduce the sound of a sonic boom to a "gentle thump."
The aircraft's unique design, including a long nose and an external vision system (due to no forward-facing window), is engineered to disperse shockwaves and achieve significantly quieter supersonic flight.
The project aims to collect data on how communities perceive the X-59's sound, which will inform new noise-level standards and potentially enable the repeal of 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.