PREVIEW

NASA and Lockheed Martin’s revolutionary X-59 quiet supersonic aircraft made its formal debut on Friday (12January2023).
The one-of-a-kind experimental aeroplane will allow NASA to gather data that could revolutionise air travel as we know it - potentially starting a new era of supersonic air travel.
“This is a major accomplishment made possible only through the hard work and ingenuity from NASA and the entire X-59 team,” said NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy. “In just a few short years we’ve gone from an ambitious concept to reality. NASA’s X-59 will help change the way we travel, bringing us closer together in much less time.”
Melroy and other senior NASA officials revealed the aircraft during a ceremony hosted by prime contractor Lockheed Martin Skunk Works at its Palmdale, California facility.
The aim of the X-59 project, part of NASA’s Quesst mission, is to prove supersonic flight can be undertaken unobtrusively enough to allow the reconsideration of regulations preventing commercial supersonic aircraft from flying at such speeds over land.
For 50 years, the U.S. and other nations have prohibited such flights because of the disturbance caused by loud, startling sonic booms on people living below.
The X-59 is expected to fly at 1.4 times the speed of sound, or 925 mph. Its design, shaping and technologies will allow the aircraft to achieve these speeds while generating a quieter sonic ‘thump’ instead of the ‘boom’ associated with previous generations of craft like Concorde.
“It’s thrilling to consider the level of ambition behind Quesst and its potential benefits,” said Bob Pearce, associate administrator for aeronautics research at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “NASA will share the data and technology we generate from this one-of-a-kind mission with regulators and with industry. By demonstrating the possibility of quiet commercial supersonic travel over land, we seek to open new commercial markets for U.S. companies and benefit travelers around the world.”
With rollout complete, the Quesst team will shift to its next steps in preparation for its first flight. These are integrated systems testing, engine runs, and taxi testing for the X-59.
That first flight is scheduled to happen as early as this year. After this it will undertake its first quiet supersonic flight.
The Quesst team will conduct several of the aircraft’s flight tests at the Lockheed Skunk Works before transferring it to NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, which will serve as its base of operations.
“Across both teams, talented, dedicated, and passionate scientists, engineers, and production artisans have collaborated to develop and produce this aircraft,” said John Clark, vice president and general manager at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works. “We’re honored to be a part of this journey to shape the future of supersonic travel over land alongside NASA and our suppliers.”
Americans may get their first in-person glimpse of the aircraft when it flies over several to-be-selected cities across the U.S. NASA will collect data on the sound generated by the X-59 and people’s perceptions of it. This will then inform new guidelines for supersonic flight.
The unique experimental airplane is 99.7 feet long and 29.5 feet wide, and the technological advancements it houses will make quiet supersonic flight possible.
The X-59’s thin, tapered nose accounts for almost a third of its length and will break up the shock waves that would ordinarily result in a supersonic aircraft causing a sonic boom.
Due to this configuration, the cockpit is located almost halfway down the length of the aircraft – and does not have a forward-facing window. Instead, NASA’s Quesst team developed the eXternal Vision System, a series of high-resolution cameras feeding a 4K monitor in the cockpit.
The Quesst team also designed the aircraft with its engine mounted on top and gave it a smooth underside to help keep shockwaves from merging behind the aircraft and causing a sonic boom.