Pretty cool looking plane.
Posted on 10/10/2021 9:57:24 AM PDT by American Number 181269513
Supersonic planes might be speedy but they have one distinct problem: They generate an unbearably loud sound. When an aircraft travels faster than the speed of sound, shockwaves form and travel away from the aircraft, merging and generating sonic booms heard on the ground for miles.
NASA is now working with Lockheed Martin Skunk Works to transform aviation through its faster-than-sound X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology (QueSST) aircraft that reduces sonic booms to a barely-audible sonic thump.
The new single-seat plane X-59 will be 99.7 feet long, 29.5 feet wide (30 m by 9 m), and will cruise at an altitude of 55,000 feet (16.7 km) while moving at a speed of Mach 1.4, or 925 mph (1,488 km/h). What it won't have, however, is a forward-facing window.
Instead, it will rely on a NASA-developed eXternal Vision System (XVS).
According to Forbes, NASA’s XVS subsystem lead, Randy Bailey, calls the artificial vision system “the last line of defense” in the domain where the pilot can use the system to see an oncoming air vehicle. “Way before we get to that point we have ATC [air traffic control] and ADS-B information assuming the other [air traffic] is on it,” he explained.
The X-59 does not include a forward canopy in order to maintain its long needle-nosed shape, Bailey also added. Instead, it uses what Bailey refers to as an "electronic window."
NASA’s electronic window XVS system includes a pair of high-resolution cameras, and a 4K monitor. The first 4K camera is located atop and slightly ahead of the cockpit and is augmented with synthetic vision capability, allowing the pilot to artificially see through fog and clouds.
A second camera underneath the nose can extend during takeoffs and landings. In this sense, the aircraft is fully covered and does not require a window. NASA's XVS system provides all the visual information required for a pilot to fly safely.
Pretty cool looking plane.
NASP ping.
My Olympus OM-D camera has an “electronic viewfinder” and no optical viewing of the image. It was a bit eerie buying that camera about five years ago.
I suppose scaling that up to a supersonic aircraft is a bit of a different problem.
“Way before we get to that point we have ATC [air traffic control] and ADS-B information ASSUMING the other [air traffic] is on it,” he explained.”
And then comes Harrison Ford in his Piper Cub....
Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis had no front window. He used a periscope.
Oh, for crying out loud.
If they want to speed up airline travel, here’s the solution.
Full power from takeoff to landing.
Put those hooks on the passenger jets like the Navy has.
Have em come screaming in to land at 500 mph.
THAT is how you cut some time off the flight.
Passenger seats should be made to swivel 180 degrees.
“. . . unbearably loud noise . . ..”. For whom?
When I was in elementary school, our rural town was included intentionally in an extended experiment where B-58 Hustlers and smaller supersonic aircraft flew over on a daily schedule. One goal was to determine whether the populace could/would tolerate sonic booms. We thought it was cool and were not bothered in the least. Livestock seemed unfazed, too.
The Concord did mouse tests, also. My opinion is that the Convord’s biggest noise signature was from the engines themselves, not the sonic signature. I never heard it in sonic flight, but did hear it in flight. Those massive engines were loud. I believe the pilots were careful about when and where they went full power.
At least in First Class.
NASA diversity-developed system???
Hmmm...
Which way? ;:}
What happens when the cameras fail?
‘And then comes Harrison Ford in his Piper Cub....”
At 55,000 feet?
“I never heard it in sonic flight,”
They went subsonic over land.
“What happens when the cameras fail?”
My phone has FOUR cameras! Never had camera fail in decades.
“Full power from takeoff to landing.”
Obviously posted by a non-pilot.
What does that have to do with flying?
It has to make an approach sometime... Harrison will be waiting.
It’s all fun and games until a speck of dust gets into it or there’s a loose wire.
I’m going to use a blindfold next time I drive to the store.
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