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In a stunning series of images, NASA has revealed the moment an experimental supersonic aircraft broke the sound barrier without producing a sonic boom audible at ground level. The images were obtained using specialized photographic methods during flight tests with the XB-1, a demonstrator aircraft produced by Boom Supersonic, the company behind the development of the world’s fastest airliner, Overture. The collaboration between NASA and Boom Supersonic offers a rare view of supersonic flight. Visual confirmation of shock waves and other data provide new insights into how aeronautical engineers can reduce the impact of sonic booms, ushering in a new...

Boom Supersonic made history today (Jan. 28) when its XB-1 jet broke the sound barrier for the first time. Boom Supersonic's chief test pilot Tristan "Geppetto" Brandenburg took off in the company's XB-1 jet from the storied Mojave Air & Space Port in California this morning under mostly clear skies. Some 11.5 minutes into the flight — the 12th overall for the XB-1 — at an altitude of around 35,000 feet (10,668 meters), the test plane exceeded Mach 1, the speed of sound, marking the first time a civil aircraft has gone supersonic over the continental United States. "This is...

The new supersonic plane breaks the mold with a radical new shape and digital cockpit, but it relies on ancient parts to make it all happen. [Photo: NASA/Wikipedia] NASA’s X-59 Quesst experimental aircraft has taken a major leap forward, firing up its engine for the first time. This marks a crucial and final milestone as the team prepares the first runway and flight tests that will lead to a long series of trials that aim to prove what computational simulations have already proven: that supersonic flight can happen without the deafening sonic boom that marred and eventually grounded aircrafts like...

Boom's XB-1 supersonic jet took its fifth test flight out of Mojave Air & Space Port on Oct 7th, 2024 setting a few new records in the process. The XB-1 is the one-third-scale platform that Boom is using as the foundation for its eventual Overture aircraft that aims to bring back commercialized supersonic passenger flight. It's been over 20 years since the Concorde took its last flight. It went supersonic in 1969, able to fly at Mach 2 (about 1,354 mph / 2,180 km/h). Though it could fly passengers from New York to London in under three hours (compared to...

NASA and Lockheed Martin formally debuted the agency’s X-59 quiet supersonic aircraft Friday. Using this one-of-a-kind experimental airplane, NASA aims to gather data that could revolutionize air travel, paving the way for a new generation of commercial aircraft that can travel faster than the speed of sound. “This is a major accomplishment made possible only through the hard work and ingenuity from NASA and the entire X-59 team,” said NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy. “In just a few short years we’ve gone from an ambitious concept to reality. NASA’s X-59 will help change the way we travel, bringing us closer...

At what velocity does a .22 bullet traveling through the air start producing a miniature sonic boom? In a recent discussion online, people who have studied the effect noted aircraft start to encounter related turbulence effects long before they reach the speed of sound. In addition, the speed of sound in air varies with the temperature of the air. Thirdly, any lot of ammunition produces a range of velocities. It is exceptional ammunition in which the range from the average to the maximum is less than 25 feet per second (fps).It is not uncommon for .22 LR ammunition to have...

The world hasn’t seen commercial supersonic travel in nearly 20 years since the Concorde was retired in 2003, but all that is about to change with the development of a new, environmentally friendly airliner. Meet Overture – the world’s fastest airliner that was developed by Denver-based Boom Supersonic. With 26 million hours of designing and testing, Overture will run on 100% sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) as it flies at Mach 1.7 over the ocean, shuttling between 68-80 passengers up to nearly 5,000 miles. The updated design features four engines that will keep weight and temperature balanced, which will also lower...

A quiet supersonic plane designed and built by NASA to usher in a new era of superfast air travel made a pitstop in Texas to perform crucial structural testing ahead of a debut flight later this year. NASA's X-59 made the switch between Lockheed Martin facilities in late December, moving the plane between Palmdale, California and Fort Worth, Texas to take advantage of specialized equipment available in the Lone Star State to make sure the speedy vehicle won't face too much stress in mid-air. "In Fort Worth, they've got the perfect facility with a full control room and all the...

A heavy chorus of bolting and machinery filled the X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology, or QueSST, assembly building as engineers, system technicians, and aircraft fabricators worked to merge the major aircraft sections together, making it look like an actual aircraft for the first time since the initial cut of metal in 2018. "We’ve now transitioned from being a bunch of separate parts sitting around on different parts of the production floor to an airplane,” said Jay Brandon, NASA chief engineer for the Low Boom Flight Demonstrator (LBFD) project. NASA’s X-59 QueSST is under construction at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in Palmdale,...

The carrier announced Thursday it’s buying 15 planes from Boom Supersonic with the option to purchase 35 more at some point. Boom’s first commercial supersonic jet, the Overture, has not been built or certified yet. It is targeting the start of passenger service in 2029 with a plane that could fly at Mach 1.7 and cut some flight times in half. That means a flight from New York to London that typically lasts seven hours would only take 3½ hours. Earlier this year, United took a stake in eVTOL start-up Archer Aviation while partnering with Mesa Airlines to order 200...

The Quiet SuperSonic Technology aircraft is America's newest experimental plane. A time-lapse video released by NASA in early 2020 shows the progress of the X-59, which has been referred to as the X-59 Supersonic Frankenstein. It’s assembly is using scavenged parts from iconic aircraft such as the F-16 Fighting Falcon, the NASA T-38 Talon, and the Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk.

Virgin Galactic announced in May that it would be partnering with NASA to work toward high-speed, high altitude point-to-point travel for commercial airline passengers. The plan is to eventually create an aircraft that can fly above 60,000 feet (the cruising altitude of the Concorde) and carry between 9 and 19 people per flight, with a cabin essentially set up to provide each of those passengers with either Business or First Class-style seating and service. One other key element of the design is that it can be powered by next-gen sustainable fuel for more ecological operation. In some ways, this project...

Russia's first regiment of Avangard hypersonic missiles has been put into service, the defence ministry says. The location was not given, although officials had earlier indicated they would be deployed in the Urals. President Vladimir Putin has said the nuclear-capable missiles can travel more than 20 times the speed of sound and put Russia ahead of other nations. They have a "glide system" that affords great manoeuvrability and could make them impossible to defend against. Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu confirmed the "Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle entered service at 10:00 Moscow time on 27 December", calling it a "landmark event".

March 5, 2019 NASA Captures First Air-to-Air Images of Supersonic Shockwave Interaction in Flight One of the greatest challenges of the flight series was timing. In order to acquire this image, originally monochromatic and shown here as a colorized composite image, NASA flew a B-200, outfitted with an updated imaging system, at around 30,000 feet while the pair of T-38s were required to not only remain in formation, but to fly at supersonic speeds at the precise moment they were directly beneath the B-200. The images were captured as a result of all three aircraft being in the exact...

Lockheed will build the airplane at its Palmdale, California Skunk Works facility, which is well known for building risky and high-technology airplanes. Lockheed was previously awarded a design contract, and were the only bidders for the $247.5m construction award. The company expects to reach Critical Design Review—after which the design is fixed and construction begins—in September 2019, with first flights anticipated in 2021. The first year or two will be devoted to baseline testing: Proving the new airplane can fly, carefully measuring its subsonic noise, and comparing it to a NASA F/A-18’s noise levels. Starting in 2022, the demonstrator will...

Known as the Low-Boom Flight Demonstrator (LBFD), this X-plane is scheduled to make its first test flight as early as 2021 and "would open a new market for U.S. companies to build faster commercial airliners, creating jobs and cutting cross-country flight times in half," the White House budget request states.  The goal of supersonic aircraft like LBFD is to make commercial airplanes that can fly faster than the speed of sound without generating a loud and obnoxious sonic boom, an ear-splitting noise associated with shock waves generated by an aircraft as it breaks the sound barrier "Future supersonic aircraft seeking...

The Bloodhound Supersonic Car just completed its first public test, reaching 210 mph in eight seconds on a 1.7-mile airport runway in England. It’s powered by an engine usually found on combat aircraft, which gave it a 54,000-thrust horsepower. That’s equal to the combined output of at least 360 family cars. Eventually, a rocket engine will be attached to the car, with the goal of smashing the current land speed record of 763 mph to hit the 1,000 mph milestone.

Today at Cornwall Airport Newquay in southern England, the Bloodhound SSC completed its first test run with Royal Air Force Wing Commander and Guinness land speed record holder Andy Green at the wheel. According to the Bloodhound team, the car accelerated from 0-200 mph in around eight seconds, generating 2g of force, and making a hell of a lot of a noise.

She was the last of the iconic supersonic passenger jets to be built and the last to fly. But now, 14 years after her final flight, the public can board Concorde Alpha Foxtrot once again today as she goes on display at a £19million new home in Bristol. The Anglo-French supersonic plane, which could cross the Atlantic in three hours, can be seen at aviation heritage museum Aerospace Bristol, which opens today. The museum promises that visitors will be 'wowed by a dramatic projection show on to the supersonic jet that tells the story of Concorde and what it was...

QueSST is the preliminary design stage of NASA's Low Boom Flight Demonstration (LBFD) experimental airplane, also known as an X-plane. So far, a scale model of QueSST has been tested in an 8-by-6-foot supersonic wind tunnel at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. The next phase will be to test the technologies in flight, Coen said in the video. "So to do that, we're building an X-plane design and the eventual Low Boom Flight Demonstration aircraft that represents the boom of a larger airplane," Coen added. "The idea is to prove the technology; show how robust it is in a...