Overview
- The X-59 reached Mach 1.4 at roughly 55,000 feet in a June 12 test, a mission‑condition flight that matches the speed and altitude planned for future community overflights.
- Earlier testing saw the aircraft first break the sound barrier at about Mach 1.1 during an 81-minute flight from Edwards Air Force Base on June 5, confirming initial supersonic performance.
- Acoustic measurement on the ground has been limited because a NASA F-15 chase plane produced its own booms during early runs, so engineers will equip the F-15 with a shock-sensing probe to map the X-59’s shock waves directly.
- After dedicated acoustic validation runs using ground microphone arrays and the probe, NASA will fly the X-59 over selected U.S. communities to collect human perceptual data that it will give regulators to inform possible noise-based standards.
- Built by Lockheed Martin under a roughly $247.5 million contract, the single-pilot demonstrator uses an ultra-long nose and an eXternal Vision System instead of forward windows and is intended to show whether a quiet ‘thump’ can allow future commercial supersonic flights over land.