NASA’s X-59 Supersonic Aircraft: Test Pilot Inspection | The Quesst Mission
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”.
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 the first flight!
NASA test pilots Nils Larson (left) and Jim “Clue” Less (right), and Lockheed Martin test pilot Dan “Dog” Canin pose with the newly-painted X-59 as it sits on the ramp at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in Palmdale, California. 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 Test Pilot Checks Out Painted X-59
NASA test pilot Nils Larson gets an initial look at the painted X-59 as it sits on the ramp at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in Palmdale, California. Larson, one of three test pilots training to fly the X-59 inspects the side of the 38-foot-long nose
NASA test pilot Jim “Clue” Less poses with the newly-painted X-59 as it sits on the ramp at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in Palmdale, California.
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/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 Date: Dec. 12, 2023
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