NASA’s new X-59 supersonic plane has an engine for quiet sonic booms
NASA’s supersonic plane is now one step closer to its demonstration flight over American communities.
The X-59 supersonic plane of NASA’s Quest mission just got its 13-foot-long engine, according to a recent announcement from the space agency. This crucial piece of hardware will deliver 22,000 pounds of thrust and power the X-59 to fly faster than the speed of sound. NASA hopes that data collected during the flight, around 2025, will show that this is the case New supersonic technology will produce just one ‘hit’ as heard by people on the ground, and not a sonic boom. That will then be taken to regulators to change the rules on how fast a plane can be allowed to fly over the earth, and perhaps be used in future commercial aircraft applications to reduce travel times, according to NASA.
The engine comes from General Electric Aviation (opens in a new tab), a subsidiary of General Electric. According to a November 14 update (opens in a new tab) from NASA, the engine will propel X-59 to speeds up to Mach 1.4 and altitudes around 55,000 feet (16,764 meters).
In the photos: NASA’s amazing X-planes from the X-1 to the XV-15
“Through Quest, NASA plans to demonstrate that the X-59 can fly faster than sound without generating the loud sonic booms that supersonic aircraft typically produce. This thunderous sound is why the U.S. and other governments banned most supersonic flights over land,” NASA officials. wrote on a mission description (opens in a new tab) come back in may
But Quest is still in its first phase, focused on assembly. Engine installation occurred at Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California in early November.
“The engine installation is the culmination of years of design and planning by NASA, Lockheed Martin and General Electric Aviation teams,” said Ray Castner, NASA’s propulsion performance manager for the X-59 , in the November update. “I am impressed and proud of this combined team that has spent the last few months developing the key procedures, which enabled a seamless installation.”
The Quest mission will end in 2027, when data collected from flights over yet-to-be-announced American communities will be turned over to U.S. and international regulators, according to NASA.
“With the information gathered during the Quest mission,” space agency officials wrote in May, “the hope is to allow regulators to consider rules based on the volume of an aircraft, not based on an arbitrary speed”.
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