Nasa has unveiled its X-59 “quiet” supersonic aircraft — an aeronautical wonder known as Son of Concorde that it hopes will go with a whimper and not a bang.
The final version of the experimental jet, which can fly faster than the speed of sound without generating a thunderous sonic boom, was wheeled out of the hangar at Lockheed Martin’s secretive Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California.
“For the team, some of whom have worked on the aircraft since the first component was created, the reveal of the X-59 will be a very special moment … our vision coming to life,” said Cathy Bahm, Nasa’s project manager, before the rollout on Friday.
The unveiling represented not only the culmination of decades of work “but also the future of flight and the spirit of aeronautics research”, Nasa said.
The Quiet SuperSonic Technology (Quesst) project, under which Nasa paid Lockheed Martin $247.5 million (£194m) to design and build the X-59, raises the potential for overturning the ban on commercial supersonic flight over land and cutting regular flight times in half.
The ban was imposed by regulatory authorities around the world in 1973 following the advent of Concorde because of the disruptive, window-rattling booms generated by the merging of the atmospheric shock waves as the aircraft broke the sound barrier. The X-59’s unique design spreads out the shock waves, reducing the decibel level from a boom to a thump akin to that of a car door slamming.
The needle-nosed jet is designed to fly at 925mph (1,489km/h) at an altitude up to 55,000ft (16,764m). It has already undergone flight tests to prove its airworthiness and trial its supersonic technology. Scale models were tested in wind tunnels at Nasa and the Japanese Space Agency, JAXA.
Now complete with its red, white and blue livery and protective paint layer, it will undergo a sound-testing phase in which residents will be surveyed for their perceptions of how acoustically intrusive it is as it flies at Mach 1.4 over selected communities in the US.
That data will be shared with the US Federal Aviation Authority and international agencies to support the push for a regulatory shift and an anticipated new chapter in air travel. The X-59 is a one-seater model, but the technology it is putting on trial will potentially support the development of commercial supersonic passenger liners by 2035, according to industry estimates.
“The idea of lifting the ban on supersonic flight over land is really exciting and that’s the future the X-59 could enable,” said Bahm.
Chuck Yeager, a US Air Force captain, was the first pilot to break the sound barrier in 1947, flying an X-1 rocket plane over California. But as the military embraced supersonic aviation technology, public tolerance for the sound impacts wore thin and after Concorde made its debut at the Paris Air Show in 1969 several countries, led by the US, imposed supersonic speed embargos over land.
Resolving the boom issue became one of the most persistent challenges of supersonic flight. But at Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works, the aerospace and defence manufacturer’s research and development centre in the Mojave desert, the mantra is: “Nothing is impossible.”
For the past 80 years, it has produced some of the most prestigious and historically significant aviation breakthroughs at a lightning pace. They include America’s first fighter jet, the P-80 Shooting Star; the world’s first dedicated spy plane, the U2; the fastest aircraft in history, the SR-71 Blackbird — and radar-evading “stealth” jets starting with the F-117 Nighthawk.
Peter Coen, Nasa’s Quesst mission integration manager, said: “We’re definitely ready to write a new chapter in the history of supersonic flight, making air travel over land twice as fast but in a way that is safe, sustainable and so much quieter than before.”
Pam Melroy, the deputy head of Nasa and a former military test pilot and astronaut, announced: “Behold our stunning X-59. I just want to get right into it.”
The cockpit has no forward-facing window, meaning the pilot has little direct visibility and relies on a “marvel of high resolution cameras” that feed a view onto a screen in front of the pilot seat, she said.
“This aircraft is the culmination of decades of scientific exploration around the sonic boom. I’m really thrilled about this engineering marvel of supersonic flight — symbol of progress and a herald of supersonic travel that will bring us closer together as humans, faster,” Melroy added.
Greg Ulmer, executive vice president of aeronautics at Lockheed Martin, said as the aircraft was unveiled: “This is a moment future generations will look back upon with both awe and admiration.”
Robert Johnson is a UK-based business writer specializing in finance and entrepreneurship. With an eye for market trends and a keen interest in the corporate world, he offers readers valuable insights into business developments.
