NASA’s top-secret Quiet Supersonic Technology jet was spotted on its way to Texas in rare photos taken ahead of its first planned flight.
Photos of the experimental research aircraft were taken by photographer Aldo Boccaccio in Arizona in the week leading up to Christmas.
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The jet was on its way to Fort Worth, where Lockheed Martin – the company building the jet for Nasa – has a plant.
The aircraft, called the X-59 QueSST by Nasa, will undergo testing before its set to take flight next year.
According to The War Zone, the jet has been under construction at a US Air Force plant in Palmdale, California, since 2018.
Once tests are completed in Fort Worth – which hosts the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter assembly line – it will be transported back to Palmdale for flight testing.
Nasa has explained online that aeronautical developers “are collecting data that could make supersonic flight over land possible, dramatically reducing travel time in the United States or anywhere in the world.”
The Low-Boom Flight Demonstration team is building the X-59 aircraft “with technology that reduces the loudness of a sonic boom to a gentle thump to people on the ground.”
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Another goal of the team is to fly the jet over certain communities in the US “to gather data on human responses to the sound generated during supersonic flight and deliver that data set to US and international regulators.”
“Using this data, new sound-based rules regarding supersonic flight over land can be written and adopted, which would open the doors to new commercial cargo and passenger markets to provide faster-than-sound air travel,” Nasa has stated.
As noted by The War Zone, “the disruptive noise and shaking that planes flying above the speed of sound produce remain key impediments to viable commercial supersonic aircraft.
“These issues also impose restrictions on military training involving supersonic aircraft and ‘quieting’ the booms could be beneficial during combat operations, as well.”
The X-59 is reportedly largely made up of other elements of Lockheed Martin aircraft to keep costs down.
Nasa greenlit the project to be built by Lockheed Martin in 2019. The cost of the program is $247.5million.
Once fully constructed, the X-59 is expected to be 94 feet long with a wingspan of 29.5 feet.
It will boast a maximum take-off weight of 32,300 pounds, and cruise at an altitude of 55,000 feet.
The craft will be propelled by a single General Electric F414 engine and will sport a 4K camera at the front for added visibility.
The War Zone reports that around 10 percent of the design is completely new.
Once completed, the X-59 will cruise at Mach 1.4 – which is 925mph and faster than the speed of sound (767mph).
Air experts hope the shape of the X-59 will max its sonic boom out at between 60dB and 75dB for people on the ground.
If successful, Nasa’s design could be rolled out for commercial flights – or possibly even the US military.
Nasa said the test jet’s first flight should come sometime next year, but it’s unclear when that could take place.
Flight testing is expected to span nine months during 2022.
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