NASA’s supersonic stealth plane leaves the hangar

2023-07-10 13:25:32

X-59 Plane – LOCKHEED MARTIN

MADRID, 10 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –

New images show NASA’s X-59 while on the flight line, the space between the hangar and the runwayat a Lockheed Martin plant in California, on June 19.

The move from its construction site to the flight line is one of many milestones preparing the X-59 for its first and subsequent flights. The team will then extensive ground testing to ensure the aircraft is safe to fly.

The X-59 aircraft, the centerpiece of NASA’s Quesst mission, is designed to demonstrate the ability to fly supersonic, or faster than Mach 1, while reducing the loud sonic boom to a quiet sonic thump, reports NASA.

NASA will then fly the X-59 over various populated areas. to collect data on human responses to sound generated during supersonic flight. NASA will hand over that data set to US and international regulators to possibly enable commercial supersonic flight over land.

The X-59 is designed so that when it flies supersonic, people on the ground hear nothing more than a quiet thud, if they hear anything.

but which will produce a sound as loud as eIt will fly at more than 18,000 meters at a speed of around 1,500 kilometers per hourl closing a car door –75 decibels–instead of the sonic stampede of planes flying above the speed of sound.