Early this morning, the Lockheed Martin X-59 aircraft made its first flight. It was developed under the QueSST (Quiet Super Sonic Transport) Program in 2017 to develop a supersonic passenger aircraft that does not produce sonic boom noise. This is the main reason why the Concorde aircraft cannot fly at supersonic speeds when crossing populated areas such as Malaysia and the entire North American continent.
The first flight was made from Palmdale, California with NASA pilot Nils Larson at the helm. It flew for 67 minutes at an altitude of 12,000 feet and a maximum speed of 250 knots (463 kmh) to perform basic tests of the aircraft's systems functioning properly. NASA will then move the aircraft to the Armstrong Flight Research Center to perform several more important tests before the first supersonic flight can be made.
Before a large-scale supersonic passenger aircraft is developed, the Lockheed Martin X-59 aircraft will be used for testing. NASA and Lockheed Martin's goal is for the X-59 to produce a sound like a door closing at supersonic speeds.
The X-59 has a long nose to spread the waves produced when flying above the speed of sound. It is expected to be able to fly at speeds of up to Mach 1.5 (1,852 km/h). To reduce air resistance, the X-59 does not have a windshield in the cockpit. Instead, a 4K camera system and high-resolution screens are used as a replacement.
Lockheed Martin was awarded the contract to build the X-59 because of their experience building the SR-71 Blackbird supersonic aircraft, which still holds the world's fastest aircraft record of 3,529.6 km/h, which was recorded in 1976.
The X-59 is the second aircraft developed to bring back the era of supersonic passenger aircraft. In January of this year, the Boom Supersonic XB-1 became the first aircraft to reach supersonic speeds without the sonic boom. It will be the basis for the Boom Overture passenger aircraft, which will be in service by 2029.
