NASA's experimental aircraft X-59 Quest, designed to fly at supersonic velocity without generating a loud sound thunderstorm, successfully completed its first flight.
The machine, built by the legendary Skunk Works division of Lockheed Martin, launched on Tuesday from an air force base in Palmdale, California. This is simply a historical step towards creating a fresh generation of commercial supersonic aircraft.
The nonsubjective of the X-59 task is to solve the problem that grounded Concorde and blocks the improvement of fast journeys: noise. Current law in the United States prohibits supersonic flights over the land due to a cumbersome sound thunderstorm that can break windows. The X-59 was designed to turn this deafening bang into a barely audible "sound tap" (sonic thump).
To accomplish this, engineers utilized a extremist project. The aircraft is 30 metres long, of which 1 3rd is an incredibly long and thin nose. Its task is to "break" the force waves, which in average aircraft accumulate and form a shock wave. In addition, the engine (a modified unit from the F/A-18 fighter) was mounted on the top of the hull alternatively than under it. This is besides intended to smooth out the bottom of the device and direct any of the sound up, distant from the people on the ground.
However, the most striking feature of the X-59 is the cockpit. To keep a perfectly aerodynamic shape, the aircraft has no windshield. The pilot can't see what's in front of him, at least not directly. Instead, it uses the eXternal Visibility strategy (XVS) – an external advanced resolution camera that transmits the image to the 4K monitor in the cockpit. As the engineers explain, a conventional cockpit with flat glass would make its own strong impact wave, destroying all effort.
The first flight, which lasted about an hour, was a general airworthiness test. The plane flew at a lower velocity (about 240 mph, or 386 km/h) and with a deliberately unscheduled chassis. He was accompanied by an F-15 fighter, whose pilot watched the behaviour of the fresh machine. In subsequent investigating phases, velocity will gradually be increased until the mark is reached: 1,4 Macha (about 1700 km/h) at an altitude of 55,000 feet.
Once the method tests have been completed, a key social phase of the task will begin. NASA plans to fly the X-59 over selected cities in the U.S. and survey residents by examining their consequence and the level of irritation caused by the "sound tapping". The collected data will be transmitted to regulators (like the FAA) to make a fresh law – based not on a velocity ban, but on an acceptable sound limit. That would open the door to companies like Boom Supersonic to build passenger jets that could reduce travel time by half.
Boom Supersonic completed his first supersonic flight
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