A quiet supersonic aircraft is unveiled by NASA in an attempt to boost commercial travel

During the Friday launch ceremony, the agency revealed their plans to test the quietness of US cities by involving "the people below."

At a roll-out ceremony on Friday in Palmdale, California, the experimental supersonic jet built by Lockheed Martin and NASA, designated X-59, was unveiled. Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images is the
photographer.

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In keeping with its goal of enabling commercial supersonic travel, NASA has unveiled a unique quiet supersonic aircraft.

The X-59 is an experimental aircraft that NASA unveiled on Friday at a joint event with Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in Palmdale, California. Its predicted top speed is 1.4 times the speed of sound, or 925 mph (1,488 km/h).

The aircraft's slender, tapered nose, which makes up about a third of its total length, is intended to deflect shock waves that would normally surround supersonic planes and cause sonic booms. The aircraft is 99.7 feet (30.4 meters) long and 29.5 feet wide.

Engineers eliminated the forward-facing windows that are normally present in other aircraft and placed the cockpit nearly halfway down the length of the aircraft in an effort to improve its supersonic performance.

At the launch event on Friday, NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy provided an explanation of the configurations, saying, "We made that decision to make it quieter, but it's actually an important step forward in and of itself in advancing aviation technology."The crew created the external vision system, which is truly a miracle of high-resolution cameras feeding an ultra-high-resolution monitor, in response to the enormous challenge of limited visibility in the cockpit.

"Future aircraft designs may benefit from the external vision system, as it did for us, because it eliminates a forward-facing window for engineering purposes," Melroy continued.

Along with having a smooth underside to stop shock waves from forming behind the aircraft and producing sonic booms, the aircraft also has an engine positioned on top.

Later this year, the X-59 is scheduled to make its first flight, followed by a silent supersonic flight, according to NASA. The government also stated that after test flights are finished, the X-59 will fly over a number of US cities that have not yet been chosen in order to gather public input regarding the noise it produces.

Due to popular fears of the tremendous sonic booms that may be heard miles away, commercial supersonic travel over land has been prohibited in the US for the past 50 years.

At the launch celebration on Friday, Bob Pearce, the assistant administrator of NASA's aeronautics research program, addressed the ban by saying, "We were able to design an aircraft that would produce a soft thump instead of a sonic boom thanks to grounded flight testing." Is the thump soft enough to permit land-based supersonic travel? Yes, according to our lab research, but the real answer can only be discovered by talking to those who would really hear it in their daily lives.

"Collect data from the people below, determine if that sonic thump is acceptable and then turn the data over to US and international regulatory authorities in hopes to then lift that ban," according to Pierce, would be the X-59's task.

The head of Lockheed Martin's X-59 program, David Richardson, stated during the post-launch press conference that the X-59's taxi testing are anticipated to begin in late spring or early summer.

Before committing to the aircraft's first flight, Richardson stated, "We will go and make adjustments if we find anything that is not operating nominally, or we will replace any parts that are not functioning to ensure the airplane is fully functional, airworthy, and safe."