NASA’s X-59 Supersonic Aircraft: Rollout Day | The Quesst Mission

NASA’s X-59 Supersonic Aircraft: Rollout Day | The Quesst Mission

This is the X-59, a single-seat X-plane aiming to reduce the sound of the sonic boom to a mere thump. It opens the possibility for commercial supersonic flights over land, which has been prohibited since 1973. Be on the lookout for first flight! NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft image released for rollout day, Jan. 12, 2024. (This not a "render.") 

NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft sits on the ramp at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in Palmdale, California during sunrise, shortly after completion of painting. With its unique design, including a 38-foot-long nose, the X-59 was built to demonstrate the ability to fly supersonic, or faster than the speed of sound, while reducing the typically loud sonic boom produced by aircraft at such speeds to a quieter sonic “thump”. 

The X-59 is the centerpiece of NASA’s Quesst mission, which seeks to solve one of the major barriers to supersonic flight over land, currently banned in the United States, by making sonic booms quieter.

NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft is the product of decades of aeronautics and supersonic flight research. The X-59 is designed to be able to fly supersonic, or faster than the speed of sound, without producing a loud sonic boom, which occurs when aircraft fly at such speeds. Instead, the X-59 is designed to reduce that boom to a quieter sonic “thump.” 

The X-59's goal is to help change existing national and international aviation rules that ban commercial supersonic flight over land.

Learn more here:

https://www.nasa.gov/mission/quesst/

https://www.nasa.gov/flightlog

X-59 Free Maker Bundle (STEM Education):

https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/x-59-maker-bundle-v8.pdf

Hablas español? Visita: https://ciencia.nasa.gov/el-x-59-se-asemeja-una-aeronave-real para aprender mas sobre la mision Quesst

Image Credit: NASA/Steve Freeman/Lockheed Martin

Image Dates: Jan 12, 2024 & Dec. 12, 2023

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