With the design now complete, the aircraft will undergo a series of ground tests before its first flight. “The aircraft is set to take off for the first time later this year, followed by its first quiet supersonic flight,” NASA says. The first test flights will take place in California, both at Lockheed’s and NASA’s research centers. “Once NASA completes flight tests, the agency will fly the aircraft over several to-be-selected cities across the US, collecting input about the sound the X-59 generates and how people perceive it,” the agency’s release says.
NASA will share its data with regulators and the wider air travel industry. “By demonstrating the possibility of quiet commercial supersonic travel over land, we seek to open new commercial markets for US companies and benefit travelers around the world,” Bob Pearce, associate administrator for aeronautics research at NASA Headquarters in Washington, says in the release.
A supersonic jet with a business-class feel
NASA isn’t the only major player working to bring supersonic flight back from the past and into the future of air travel. Boom Supersonic, a private company based in Colorado, aims to bring commercial supersonic flights back to US airlines by 2029. When completed, its passenger aircraft, Overture, is expected to fly at speeds up to Mach 1.7, which is about 1,300 miles per hour—or twice as fast as today’s passenger planes.
At those speeds, passengers can travel from New York to Rome in just five hours (instead of eight), Honolulu to Tokyo in four hours (instead of more than eight), and Zurich to Philadelphia in less than five hours (compared to nine).
Boom’s first test aircraft, called XB-1, is set to take its first test flight in early 2024 at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California. XB-1 is a supersonic demonstrator jet, used to prove Boom’s ability to cross the sound barrier, and not an aircraft that will carry passengers. (Overture, which is designed to carry passengers, isn’t expected to be tested until 2026.)
“In the last 12 months, XB-1 has received its airworthiness certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration, completed an extensive Flight Readiness Review (FRR), and successfully executed a series of integrated ground and taxi tests,” Boom says on its website. So far, the XB-1 has reach speeds of up to 108 miles per hour during taxi tests on the ground. Before the jet can fly, it will need to complete a few more ground tests, including high-speed taxis.
The company says that the aircraft is designed to meet today’s takeoff and landing noise levels, and will only cross the sound barrier over water. Boom could also possibly leverage NASA’s quiet boom technology in the future, according to a company spokesperson. “When flying over land, Overture can fly significantly faster than subsonic commercial jets—about Mach 0.94, without breaking the sound barrier,” says the Boom spokesperson. “This is about 20% faster than subsonic flight.”
