NASA has finally revealed the X-59 quiet supersonic technology (Quesst) demonstrator aircraft that the agency says will pave the way for overland supersonic flight.
The X-59 was unveiled on Friday during a public ceremony at Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works facility near NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Palmdale, California. Lockheed began developing the X-59 in 2016 for NASA’s low-boom flight demonstration mission, which aims to demonstrate the feasibility of quiet supersonic flight over land.
For more than 50 years, supersonic aircraft have been prohibited from flying over the U.S. and other countries due to the noise pollution associated with the loud sonic boom that happens when an aircraft breaks the sound barrier. According to NASA, the X-59 will produce a significantly quieter “thump” in lieu of a sonic boom, which makes it more suitable for flying over populated areas.
The X-59 aircraft is expected to fly at Mach 1.4, or 925 mph (1,490 kph). It measures 99.7 feet (30.4 meters) long—with a thin, tapered nose accounting for about one-third of its length—and 29.5 feet (9 meters) wide. According to NASA, the aircraft’s long nose will help to break up the shock waves that would otherwise cause a loud sonic boom.
Because the nose is so long, the cockpit is located almost halfway down the length of the aircraft. But perhaps one of the most interesting engineering qualities of the X-59 is the absence of a forward-facing window in the cockpit.
“The forward-facing window was getting in the way of keeping the aircraft quiet, and so that's why it has no forward-facing window,” NASA deputy administrator Pam Melroy said. “But what's really interesting about that is we made that decision to make it quieter, but it's actually an important step forward in and of itself in advancing aviation technology while prioritizing the comfort of those on the ground”.
“The team developed the external vision system, which is really a marvel of high-resolution cameras feeding an ultra-high-resolution monitor, beyond its immediate applications for the X-59,” Melroy added. “The external vision system has the potential to influence future aircraft designs where the absence of that forward-facing window may prove advantageous for engineering reasons as it did for us. So it's creating capabilities.”
NASA intends to fly the X-59 later this year, starting at subsonic speeds before working up to supersonic flights. But the Quesst team still has some ground testing to do before the first flight, including some engine runs and taxi tests. Following the initial flight-test campaign, NASA will begin flying the aircraft over several as-yet-unnamed cities in the U.S. to collect data on the sonic boom noise produced by the aircraft. The agency will then present that data to regulators to help inform future rules and restrictions pertaining to supersonic flight.