Why do n’t we have supersonic aircraft any more ? Although commercial ultrasonic air change of location kicked off in the sixties with the arrival of the Concorde , since that jet was retired in 2003 , there are no ultrasonic K in common civilian usage any more . Part of that is because the Concorde was expensive and difficult to maintain , and the increase in speed was n’t deserving the huge bump in money and effort it deal to keep it flying . But another part of it is something that seems to be endemic to faster - than - sound travel : the transonic boom .
When an objective accelerates to quicker than the speed of sound , it creates shockwaves that make a sonic boom . This is noisy enough to wake people sleeping beneath an aircraft ’s flight path , and can even damage buildings or other anatomical structure on the ground . So , clearly , ultrasonic flights are forbidden across the U.S.
But NASA wants to show that faster - than - sound travel is possible without the annoyance of the gravy , which is where itsX-59 experimental aircraftcomes in . The X-59 , built by Lockheed Martin , is designed to create a “ thumping ” rather than a roar when travel past the sound barrier , with the design to make it less annoying to those people beneath .
The aircraft recently fire up its engine for the first time , with tests control that everything operate aright when the engine is run at lower fastness before the engine is run up to its gamy focal ratio .
“ The first phase of the engine trial run was really a warm - up to make certain that everything look good prior to running the locomotive , ” say Jay Brandon , NASA ’s X-59 chief engineer . “ Then we moved to the literal first engine start . That took the engine out of the saving mode that it had been in since induction on the aircraft . It was the first check to see that it was manoeuver right and that all the system it impact – hydraulics , electric organisation , environmental mastery systems , etc . – seemed to be working . ”
Though the X-59 is a research project , not an attempt to make a commercial aircraft , NASA ’s aim is to create still supersonic technologies that could eventually be adopted by commercial-grade companies . The Quesst mission imply not only building the X-59 aircraft , but also collecting datum on how the noise is perceived by multitude on the ground , with the heading of getting the ban on supersonic flying lifted .
For now , the aircraft will stay on the dry land as it goes through more examination before it take up to the atmosphere for its first flight mental test . “ The success of these runs will be the start of the culmination of the last eight years of my career , ” said Paul Dees , NASA ’s deputy propulsion lead for the X-59 . “ This is n’t the end of the excitement , but a small steppingstone to the beginning . It ’s like the first note of a symphony , where years of teamwork behind the scene are now being put to the trial run to prove our efforts have been effective , and the distinction will continue to play a harmonious song to fledge . ”
