NASA's X-59 test flight points to quieter supersonic travel

NASA’s experimental X-59 aircraft, nicknamed the “son of Concorde,” completed a successful test flight last Friday and reached supersonic speed without producing the familiar sonic boom. The plane broke the sound barrier at about Mach 1.1, or roughly 1,147 km/h, at an altitude of more than 13 kilometers, while generating only a soft “thump.”

For decades, the sonic boom, which can reach 110 decibels and cause damage, has been the main obstacle to fast supersonic flights over land. The X-59 was designed specifically to address that problem, with a long nose and carefully shaped fuselage meant to disperse shock waves and reduce the boom to a gentler sound on the ground.

The aircraft’s futuristic design comes with one major tradeoff, it has no forward cockpit windows, so the pilot relies on an external vision system. Test pilot Jim “Claw” Less said he felt nothing when the aircraft crossed the sound barrier and described the flight as smooth. NASA project manager Kathy Bahm called the supersonic flight a significant milestone for the team.

If the program succeeds, NASA hopes to help bring back commercial supersonic passenger service and sharply cut travel times between cities such as New York and London to under four hours. That would revive a market once defined by the Anglo-French Concorde, which entered service in 1976, became a symbol of luxury, but was limited mainly to ocean routes by its sonic boom. After a crash near Paris in 2000, high operating costs, and reduced air travel after the September 11 attacks, Concorde was retired in November 2003. More than 20 years later, NASA is hoping the X-59 will open a quieter era of supersonic flight.