NASA’s X-59 QueSST supersonic aircraft moves one step closer to its first flight test after moving from its construction site to the space between the hangar and runway at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in Palmdale, California. The next step will be a series of ground tests to ensure the X-59 is safe and ready to fly.
If you’re unfamiliar with this aircraft, NASA x Lockheed Martin’s X-59 is designed to fly faster than the speed of sound while reducing the resulting sonic boom to a thump for people on the ground. Engineers evaluate this technology during flight tests as part of NASA’s Quesst mission, which helps enable commercial supersonic air travel over land. Why is this important? The federal government banned all civilian supersonic flights over land fifty years ago to prevent sonic booms from startling the public below or damaging property.
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It’s a rule that many people today aren’t aware of, yet it’s at the heart of what our Quesst mission with its quiet supersonic X-59 airplane is all about. We’re definitely ready to write a new chapter in the history of supersonic flight, making air travel over land twice as fast, but in a way that is safe, sustainable, and so much quieter than before,” said Peter Coen, NASA’s Quesst mission integration manager.
