NASA's Quesst to Build X-59 Research Aircraft: Speed Never Sounded So Quiet

NASA's Quesst to Build X-59 Research Aircraft: Speed Never Sounded So Quiet

NASA's aeronautical innovators are leading a government-industry team to collect data that could make supersonic flight over land possible, dramatically reducing travel time in the United States or anywhere in the world.

The Quesst mission has two goals: 1) design and build NASA’s X-59 research aircraft with technology that reduces the loudness of a sonic boom to a gentle thump to people on the ground; and 2) fly the X-59 over select U.S. communities to gather data on human responses to the sound generated during supersonic flight and deliver that data set to U.S. and international regulators.

Using this data, new sound-based rules regarding supersonic flight over land can be written and adopted, which would open the doors to new commercial cargo and passenger markets to provide faster-than-sound air travel.

Elements of NASA's Quesst mission are organized within two of the agency's aeronautics programs—the Advanced Air Vehicles Program and the Integrated Aviation Systems Program—and managed by a systems project office whose members span both programs and all four of NASA's aeronautical research field centers: Langley Research Center in Virginia; Glenn Research Center in Cleveland; and Ames Research Center and Armstrong Flight Research Center, which are both located in California.

Credit: NASA Video

Duration: 2 minutes

Release Date: June 22, 2022

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