By Steve Gorman
PALMDALE, California (Reuters) – NASA’s X-59, a quiet supersonic jet plane, flew over the Southern California desert on Tuesday in the first test flight of the experimental plane designed to break the sound barrier without causing too much noise.
The plane, measuring just under 100 feet from nose to tail, took off about an hour after dawn from a runway at Plant 42 of the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, about 60 miles north of Los Angeles.
After a steep climb over grassy fields east of the runway, the plane was seen heading north toward Edwards Air Force Base, about 12 miles away, where it was scheduled to land. He was accompanied by a NASA chase plane.
The X-59 appeared to fly at subsonic speeds, as expected for its initial test flight.
About 200 aerospace workers and their families watched the liftoff from a safe distance, positioned along a nearby highway.
Candis Roussel, a spokeswoman for Lockheed Martin, told Reuters in a brief email statement that “the X-59 successfully completed its first flight this morning” and hailed it as a “significant milestone in aviation.” He said the company would provide details later.
The X-59, a unique experimental aircraft, was built to reach a cruising speed of 1,490 km/h, or Mach 1.4, at an altitude of 16,764 meters (55,000 feet), more than double the height and about 60 percent faster than regular airliners.
The aircraft’s unique shape was designed to greatly reduce the explosive sonic boom normally produced when an aircraft breaks the sound barrier, decreasing the volume to a muffled “sonic thud” no louder than slamming a car door.
Improving this low-decibel flight technology could make supersonic aircraft more suitable for commercial aviation service, especially over populated areas.
The Concorde supersonic plane began making regular transatlantic flights with British Airways and Air France in 1976. But the plane was retired in 2003 due to high operating costs, limited seats and low passenger numbers following the fatal crash in July 2000 and the September 11, 2001 attacks.
In press materials published online last month, NASA said the first flight of the
During subsequent test flights, the X-59 will travel higher and faster, eventually exceeding the speed of sound, about 1,225 km/h at sea level.
Source: Terra
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