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NASA’s X-59 has begun taxi testing at the US Air Force’s classified facility in Palmdale, California, marking the first time the ‘quiet’ supersonic aircraft has moved under its own power.
Over the coming weeks, testing will ramp up until the Lockheed Martin vehicle is travelling at a speed just short of the point where it will take off. Once complete, the X-59 will then progress to a first test flight.
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NASA unveiled the X-59 last year and hopes it will become the first supersonic aircraft that won’t generate a sonic boom as part of its wider Quesst mission.
The technological advancements are hugely significant, given that non-military aircraft are banned from flying faster than the speed of sound over land – a rule that contributed to the early retirement of the Concorde.
The aircraft can reduce the boom to a quieter “thump” – compared to slamming a car door – because its tapered nose breaks up the shock waves traditionally created when an aircraft surpasses the sound barrier.
Pilot Nils Larson completed the first low-speed taxi test at the infamous Plant 42 on 10 July, alongside a team comprised of NASA and Lockheed Martin personnel.
“During the low-speed tests, engineers and flight crews monitored how the X-59 handled as it moved across the runway, working to validate critical systems like steering and braking,” NASA said.
“These checks help ensure the aircraft’s stability and control across a range of conditions, giving pilots and engineers confidence that all systems are functioning as expected.
“Data gathered from the X-59 will be shared with U.S. and international regulators to inform the establishment of new, data-driven acceptable noise thresholds related to supersonic commercial flight over land.”
The final aircraft will stand at 99.7 feet long and 29.5 feet wide and features a tapered nose that accounts for almost a third of its length. This breakthrough, according to NASA, is believed to break up the shock waves that would ordinarily result in 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,” NASA added last year. “Instead, the 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.”
The X-59 was originally due to take off for the first time last year following a transfer from Lockheed’s Skunk Works facility to NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California.
Eventually, the space agency plans to fly it over selected cities in the US to test the effects of the quieter sonic thump on residents and gather their feedback.
NASA awarded Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works a US$247.5 million contract to design, build, and fly a 30-metre demonstrator prototype – X-59 Quesst – but its progress has been slower than hoped. Space Connect first reported on its development back in 2011, when NASA released a time-lapse video showing the X-59’s wing, tail, and fuselage being merged together.
