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LoginNASA: "X-59" Aircraft Breaks Sound Barrier for First Time
Washington, June 07 (QNA) - NASA announced Saturday that its successful experimental X-59 aircraft has gone supersonic for the first time, marking a new stage in the future of commercial supersonic aviation.
According to the agency, the achievement came after a flight over Edwards Air Force Base in California that lasted 81 minutes, during which the aircraft broke the sound barrier and reached an approximate speed of Mach 1.1 at an altitude of 43,400 feet. NASA test pilot Jim "Clue" Less was at the controls.
NASA said the X-59, developed by Lockheed Martin Skunk Works as part of the Quesst ("Quiet Supersonic Technology") program, is designed to produce a soft "thump" rather than a disruptive sonic boom, in an effort to address the issue of sonic booms that led to the ban on supersonic flight over land decades ago.
The aircraft features a long, slender, highly extended nose that makes up about one-third of its total length, designed to disperse shock waves and reduce the loud sonic boom into an extremely faint pulse resembling a "soft knock" that is barely audible on the ground.
Due to the length of the nose and the obstruction of forward visibility, the aircraft has no traditional cockpit windshield. Instead, the pilot relies entirely on an advanced External Vision System (XVS) that provides a high-definition live feed from external cameras.
NASA aims, through this research, to bring the aircraft to its design top speed of Mach 1.4 at an altitude of 55,000 feet, in preparation for conducting experimental flights over real communities and providing this scientific data to international regulatory authorities.
The goal is to help amend existing regulations and open the door for global aviation companies to develop future commercial supersonic passenger aircraft capable of cutting global travel times in half. (QNA)
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