PALMDALE — NASA’s latest experimental airplane moved one step closer to flight, earlier this month, as the jet engine that will power it to supersonic speeds was installed.
The General Electric Aviation engine was installed in the X-59, the unique aircraft designed to fly quietly at supersonic speeds, at Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, where the aircraft has been under development.
The engine’s 22,000 pounds of thrust will power the X-59 to speeds up to Mach 1.4 — about 1,075 mph — and 55,000 feet altitude, according to a NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center Release.
“The engine installation is the culmination of years of design and planning by the NASA, Lockheed Martin and General Electric Aviation teams,” Ray Castner, NASA’s propulsion performance lead for the X-59, said in the release. “I am both impressed with and proud of this combined team that’s spent the past few months developing the key procedures, which allowed for a smooth installation.”
The X-59 Quiet Supersonic Technology demonstrator aircraft is a one-off, experimental research plane to demonstrate the technology that allows aircraft to travel beyond the speed of sound, without creating disruptive sonic booms for those on the ground below.
The needle-nosed plane is designed so the sonic booms will be reduced from the traditional, sharp crack, to a dull thump.
It is intended to help facilitate future supersonic passenger flights over populated areas, something that is not possible due to the disturbances caused by sonic booms.
NASA awarded Lockheed Martin a $247.5 million contract, in April 2018, for the demonstrator.
As the aircraft nears completion, a series of ground tests will be performed before it makes its maiden flight, expected in the first part of 2023.
The X-59 will eventually fly from Armstrong, at Edwards Air Force Base. After a few test flights in Palmdale, it will move to the center for a series of envelope expansion flights, gradually proving out the aircraft’s performance and safety throughout the range of its capabilities.
Following those flights, the program will move into the research phase, first to validate its acoustic properties.
This will entail a series of flights in which other aircraft — either an F-15 or F-18 chase aircraft — will probe into the air beneath the X-59 to collect data on the shock waves as they form. These shock waves, if they coalesce, cause sonic booms.
Data will also be collected by a series of microphones arrayed on the ground.
Eventually, the X-59 will be used in a series of flights over communities to gauge people’s reactions to what researchers expect will be a small thump, if any sound at all, instead of the jarring sonic booms that people in the Antelope Valley are familiar with.
The initial community overflights will be based from Edwards, targeting communities that do not usually hear sonic booms.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.