NASA/Lockheed Martin X-59A Quiet Supersonic Technology (QueSST)

NASA has successfully tested a large microphone array in California’s Mojave Desert as part of a flight series in preparation for the agency’s quiet supersonic X-plane, the X-59.

Flying at speeds faster than Mach 1, the speed of sound, typically produces a loud sonic boom heard on the ground below. NASA’s X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology X-plane, or X-59 QueSST for short, will fly over select communities around the U.S. to demonstrate the ability to reduce that sonic boom to a quiet thump. The data from these flights will be turned over to the Federal Aviation Administration to possibly establish new sound-based rules for supersonic flight over land. This could open the door to future faster-than-sound commercial cargo and passenger air travel.

Before these community overflights take place, however, the X-59 will first undergo an acoustic validation phase, during which NASA will deploy an approximately 30-mile-long array of specially-configured microphones to measure the X-59’s thumps, to verify that they are as quiet as predicted.

The recently-completed Carpet Determination In Entirety Measurements flight series, or CarpetDIEM, was NASA’s “first practice” for the X-59’s acoustic validation flights.
Click to expand...

www.nasa.gov

NASA Tests Microphone Array for X-59

NASA has successfully tested a large microphone array in California’s Mojave Desert as part of a flight series in preparation for the agency’s quiet supersonic X-plane, the X-59.
www.nasa.gov www.nasa.gov
 
With all due respect, why the interest in supersonic commercial flight? Again, respectfully, will the peasants be able to afford this or is this just for the rich? I understand military applications but I don't see the need in the civilian sector.
 
How many technologies ubiquitous today were once only toys of the rich when first introduced?
 
It would seem logical that hypersonic would be the next step rather than repeating supersonic airframes.
 
I really doubt anything hypersonic will appear in the commercial sector.
 
If anything hypersonic appears in the commercial sector, it will be something like the SpaceX Starship, used for suborbital flight. Which, IIRC, Musk has proposed, but I doubt it's very cost effective.
 
Last edited:
Cost effective. In the end that's all that matters. Getting one pound into near space, LEO, etc., that's all that matters.
 
edwest said:
With all due respect, why the interest in supersonic commercial flight? Again, respectfully, will the peasants be able to afford this or is this just for the rich? I understand military applications but I don't see the need in the civilian sector.
Click to expand...

There's some interest for supersonic flight for commercial use. Engines and aerodynamics have gotten to the point where economical near-transonic flight speeds are viable and the industry in general would like to proceed with very near super-sonic or supersonic flight designs. But, speeds around that point mean thing are going to either go supersonic on occasion or they may actually be designed to go supersonic and so the idea is NASA will test out 'quiet' supersonic shapes since regulations require avoidance of sonic booms over or near inhabited and built up areas.

Randy
 
edwest said:
Cost effective. In the end that's all that matters. Getting one pound into near space, LEO, etc., that's all that matters.
Click to expand...

Far too many questions of why and complaining about the cost is why we haven’t advanced in certain areas as fast as we should. Especially as time and again history has proven such claims to be ill founded.

One good thing about Elon Musk is he often appears to place both in their proper place.
 
edwest said:
I really doubt anything hypersonic will appear in the commercial sector.
Click to expand...

REL still very much have this in their roadmap, as they would do being as it’s been there since the very beginning for them.
 
Again, cost for materials is the limiting factor. Hypersonic aircraft sounds like fun and would be interesting, but cost effective? No. And I mean by bean counters who don't care about the difference between an aircraft and a similar volume of lumber.
 
edwest said:
Again, cost for materials is the limiting factor. Hypersonic aircraft sounds like fun and would be interesting, but cost effective? No. And I mean by bean counters who don't care about the difference between an aircraft and a similar volume of lumber.
Click to expand...

Actually to be fair to the bean-counter's there's a huge difference because the aircraft is going to have totally different economics over its lifetime than the volume of lumber :)

Hypersonic's has many of the same hype and issues that come with supersonic flight. They don't integrate well with high volume sub-sonic traffic, they have a naturally higher operations and maintenance cost, and they are likely going to run into multiple regulator issues. Now any and all of this can be solved, eventually, if you throw enough effort and money at the problems but that runs into the issue of a viable and sustainable market for the service advantages while avoiding the disadvantages in an economic manner. Cost effective goes further than the concern of the "bean-counters" in a sucessful business.

Randy
 
Major remaining parts delivered (look at that nose!):

X-59-quiet-supersonic-27102020-2.jpg

p20-161-03_1-1024x683.jpg

www.aero-mag.com

Major parts of X-59 supersonic jet delivered as plane takes shape

www.aero-mag.com www.aero-mag.com
www.nasa.gov

Supersonic Air Travel

Supersonic Air Travel
www.nasa.gov www.nasa.gov
 
New milestone with wing skin pannels sealed:

p20-272-232.jpg


spaceexplored.com

NASA completes crucial part of X-59's wing assembly

NASA has announced that technicians working on assembling the X-59 airplane completed a major milestone in its construction back on...
spaceexplored.com spaceexplored.com

The stereoscopic projector mount is not the least interesting in the picture (notice the slaved dual camera set also)...
 
Definitely, yes. (great pic- you can see the projected graphics cut by the operator harm).
 
Last edited:
NASA had to determine a target noise level before NASA’s X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology aircraft could be designed to reduce a loud sonic boom to a quiet thump. To do this, NASA used traditional research aircraft to perform a low-boom dive maneuver, as seen here from the cockpit of a NASA F/A-18.

Traditional research aircraft typically produce a disruptive sonic boom when flying supersonic, or faster than sound, but NASA’s low-boom dive maneuver produces a sonic thump, similar to what we envision the X-59 will sound like. This dive reduces the strength of the shockwaves produced and perceived intensity of those shockwaves, making it much quieter for people on the ground.

The low-boom dive is a key tool in NASA’s supersonic research and the Low-Boom Flight Demonstration mission.
Click to expand...

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=293072715583724
View: https://www.facebook.com/nasaarmstrong/videos/293072715583724/
www.nasa.gov

Low-Boom Flight Demonstration

The Low-Boom Flight Demonstration mission will design and build a piloted, large-scale supersonic X-plane with technology that reduces the loudness of a sonic boom, and fly the X-plane to gather data on human responses to the low-boom flights.
www.nasa.gov www.nasa.gov
 
p21-019-01-3600x2400.jpg


In this picture, the black rectangle panels are the air intakes for the environmental control system (ECS) that regulates the temperature, cabin pressure, and air distribution. The silver grate located at the rear of one of the ECS panels is the exhaust — both of these sections are traditionally housed on the underside of the plane. By placing these features on top of the X-59 wing, the wing blocks and prevents the ECS exhaust from interacting with the shock waves on the bottom of the aircraft. This unique design approach to re-shaping the shock wave pattern substantially reduces the sonic boom to more of a sonic “thump” when it reaches the ground.
Click to expand...
www.nasa.gov

X-59 Team Installs Quiet Supersonic Technologies

X-59 Team Installs Quiet Supersonic Technologies
www.nasa.gov www.nasa.gov
 
p21-032-11_3.jpeg


www.nasa.gov

A View of NASA’s X-59 Engine Inlet - NASA

NASA’s X-59 requires the use of creative and strategic supersonic technologies to control and soften the jarring sound that hits the ground as the aircraft flies faster than the speed of sound. One of these creative technologies is the placement of the X-59 engine inlet. This visual is a closeup...
www.nasa.gov www.nasa.gov
 
Cyrano just got a new ride:

1631013326642.png

defence-blog.com

Lockheed Martin unveils prototype of its promising supersonic plane

U.S. arms maker Lockheed Martin Corp has released a photo of the first prototype of its supersonic X-plane, the X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology (QueSST), during the beginning of the final assembly process. The company says the aircraft is developing by the legendary Lockheed Martin Skunk Works...
defence-blog.com defence-blog.com
 
www.nasa.gov

X-59 Stands on its Own

X-59 Stands on its Own
www.nasa.gov www.nasa.gov
The team has made significant progress on the X-59 QueSST assembly. In late October, they pulled the aircraft away from the jig support system. The jig, which is similar to scaffolding, helped ensure all of the aircraft’s hardware was placed together correctly throughout the manufacturing process.
Click to expand...
 
TomcatViP said:
Cyrano just got a new ride:

View attachment 663821

defence-blog.com

Lockheed Martin unveils prototype of its promising supersonic plane

U.S. arms maker Lockheed Martin Corp has released a photo of the first prototype of its supersonic X-plane, the X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology (QueSST), during the beginning of the final assembly process. The company says the aircraft is developing by the legendary Lockheed Martin Skunk Works...
defence-blog.com defence-blog.com
Click to expand...
Holy.. what a super spike nose! No problem structurally? Titanium?
 

Similar threads

Please donate to support the forum.

Back
Top Bottom