NASA & Lockheed's New SST X-59
Supersonic Plane Faster Than the Speed of Sound
Could be Dawn of Global Supersonic Passenger Travel
NASA and Lockheed Martin have designed what could be the supersonic jet of the future - the X-59 QueSST, meaning quiet supersonic technology. The needle-nosed, ultra thin aircraft breaks the sound barrier without releasing sonic booms. It has been designed to minimize shock waves down to the sound of a car door slamming down the street. The minimal sound is critical for SST flights to resume over land in the US. Because of sonic booms, the FAA banned commercial SST flights over the US in 1973.
A New Design of Aerodynamic Elegance
According to NASA and Lockheed, they went back to the basics of aerodynamics to design an aircraft that flies faster than the speed of sound as quietly as possible. They say the X-59 is a combination of highly advanced technology and elegant simplicity. It is still under development. The current prototype is 99 feet long and so streamlined it has no forward facing window and carries only the pilot. The pilot uses an External Vision System, invented by NASA, to fly the plane. Two cameras above and below the aircraft provide real-time views for the pilot on an HD screen.
Dawn of Supersonic Passenger Flights
Testing will start on the aircraft in 2022 and then intensify in 2023 and 2024. If the program proves to be successful, Lockheed believes the X-59 could trigger the global use of supersonic aircraft for everyday passenger flights by 2035.
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