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NASA’s X-59 QueSST This artist’s concept of NASA’s QueSST jet reflects the airplane’s final configuration following years of research and design engineering. The jet is now under construction by Lockheed Martin at the company’s Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California. Credit: Lockheed Martin NASA’s X-59 aircraft, capable of supersonic flight while reducing sonic booms to quieter ‘thumps’, has been moved for testing in California. The collected data on human reactions to supersonic noise will potentially assist in enabling commercial supersonic flight over land. The following series of images shows NASA’s X-59 as it sits on the flight line—the space between...

NASA's incredible X-plane that is shaped to muffle the sound of its sonic boom has been cleared for assembly by a management review ahead of test flights in 2021. Dubbed the 'son of Concorde' after the Mach 2 airliner, the X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology (QueSST) is NASA's first large experimental plane in three decades. The X-59 will cruise at Mach 1.42 (1,090 mph/1,754 km/h) and is designed for supersonic flight while preventing its sonic boom from being heard on the ground. If successful, the craft could one day travel from London to New York in just over three hours, while...

On Monday, NASA revealed a project as part of its newly-introduced New Aviation Horizons initiative that awarded Lockheed Martin a $20 million contract over the next 17 months to create a jet that uses quiet supersonic technology (QueSST). It is the first in a series of ‘X-planes’ for the initiative. NASA said it conducted studies across the country to learn more about acceptable sound levels. The finished product will fly at supersonic speeds, and create a "heartbeat" in place of the disruptive "boom" that is currently associated with supersonic flight.