NASA tests new supersonic plane with revolutionary tech that solves Concorde's fatal flaw
NASA is testing a new aircraft that could pave the way for a new era of supersonic air travel by addressing an issue at the heart of Concorde's commercial failure.
The dream of a 'son of Concorde ' capable of whisking passengers from New York to London in under four hours is edging closer to reality.
NASA's X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft has officially begun taxi tests, a significant milestone as this unique experimental plane moves under its own power for the first time.
On 10 July, NASA test pilot Nils Larson, alongside the X-59 team comprising NASA and Lockheed Martin staff, carried out the craft's inaugural low-speed taxi test at the U.S. Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California.
This taxiing phase signals the final ground test sequence before the X-59's maiden flight. In the upcoming weeks, the aircraft will incrementally boost its speed, culminating in a high-speed taxi test that will bring it tantalisingly close to lift-off.
During these initial low-speed trials, engineering and flight teams observed the X-59's performance on the tarmac, ensuring essential systems like steering and braking are operating correctly. These evaluations are crucial for confirming the aircraft's stability and control under various scenarios, instilling confidence in pilots and engineers that all systems are functioning optimally.
At the heart of NASA's Quesst mission, the X-59 aims to revolutionise quiet supersonic travel by transforming the traditionally loud sonic boom into a more subdued "thump."
This is considered key to the commercial success of any supersonic air travel. Crashing through the sound barrier causes a huge bang that has big consequences for those on the ground. During a 1965 test of the original Concorde over Oklahoma city by the US Air Force, hundreds of reports of smashed windows were made.
The potential to cause this kind of disruption meant that Concorde could only fly certain routes at supersonic, meaning no high-speed flights over land. This crushed the business case for the aircraft in the US as cities such as Los Angeles and New York could not be linked up effectively.
Guy Gratton, associate professor of aviation and the environment at Cranfield University, told the Mirror how NASA's new 'quiet' tech is causing is a huge amount of excitement in the industry.
"From what I've been able to read, it does work. As a supersonic aircraft flies, every leading part of the aircraft creates a shockwave, and that shockwave creates a sonic boom. The NASA tech has shaped the aircraft so as the shockwaves move away from the plane in flight, they interact with each other and cancel each other out," he explained.
The X-59 is expected to reach speeds of Mach 1.5, or roughly 990 mph (1,590 km/h), which could potentially cut the London to New York flight time down to approximately 3 hours and 44 minutes - a significant reduction from the usual 7-8 hour journey.
In 2023, NASA explored the feasibility of supersonic passenger air travel on aircraft capable of reaching speeds between Mach 2 and Mach 4 (1,535-3,045 mph). Information collected from the X-59 will be shared with U.S. and international regulators to help establish new, data-driven noise standards for supersonic commercial flights over land.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mirror
25 minutes ago
- Daily Mirror
Baba Vanga and Living Nostradamus both have 'turning point' prediction for 2025
Psychics Baba Vanga and the so-called Living Nostradamus, Athos Salomé, have both predicted 2025 will be the year we see a groundbreaking moment in extraterrestrial activity A pair of celebrated psychics, famous for their chillingly precise predictions of world events including the coronavirus pandemic, Princess Diana's death, and the 9/11 attacks, are now forecasting a groundbreaking moment in extraterrestrial contact for this year. Baba Vanga and the so-called Living Nostradamus predict that 2025 will be the year aliens make contact with Earth. The late blind Bulgarian mystic Baba Vanga, who passed away in 1996 aged 84, envisioned Earth establishing communication with alien life during a "major sporting event". With numerous significant events approaching, such as the Women's Euro final, Women's Rugby World Cup, and Formula 1 races, speculation is mounting about when we might witness this otherworldly encounter. Athos Salomé, 38, from Brazil - nicknamed the Living Nostradamus - has meanwhile pinpointed the James Webb telescope as the instrument through which we'll uncover alien life. Launched on Christmas Day in 2021, NASA proclaimed it as "the largest, most powerful and most complex telescope ever launched into space". "Thanks to the James Webb telescope, humanity might finally get the answer to the existence of alien life, while governments like the US may declassify UFO files," Salomé told Femail. "If true, these discoveries could revolutionise one's view about the universe in which we exist - and about ourselves." The James Webb telescope has been revealing the mysteries of space, illuminating the universe's first moments following the Big Bang. Despite Vanga passing away almost three decades ago, her predictions for 2025 are generating widespread discussion. She predicted that this year would witness humanity establishing contact with alien life forms and experiencing breakthroughs in medical technology through laboratory-grown human organs, potentially ending transplant waiting lists and substantially prolonging human life. According to Sky History, such medical progress could drastically boost lifespans, potentially extending them beyond 120 years. Vanga's additional predictions for 2025 include multiple earthquakes and a devastating European conflict. She once declared: " Russia will not only survive, it will dominate the world." Salomé has warned 2025 could mark the year when "humanity may lose control of technology." The psychic stressed that whilst the coming year holds promise for revolutionary breakthroughs, it simultaneously presents unprecedented dangers. He proposed that the advent of artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and medical advancements could signify either a revolutionary leap forward or an impending disaster, dubbing 2025 as a "turning point".
Metro
3 hours ago
- Metro
We're another step closer to living on the Moon
It's been 56 years since Neil Armstrong plonked a boot on the Moon and made history. Yet, much to the rest of humanity's annoyance, they haven't followed in his footsteps – literally. The grey, pockmarked orb doesn't exactly scream real estate, but Nasa hopes to build homes for astronauts and civilians on the Moon by 2040. Chinese scientists have suggested that this might not be as far-fetched as it might seem – the soil on the Moon could potentially support life. According to a study, the Chinese University of Hong Kong have invented a way to extract water from the chalky lunar soil. This celestial water is then used to convert carbon dioxide – such as that exhaled by astronauts – into carbon monoxide and hydrogen gas, which can be used to make fuel and oxygen for the astronauts to breathe. Just like on Earth, fuel and food would be costly on the Moon, given how expensive it would be flying up essentials into space. Travelling light is critical to spaceflight, where just one kilogram of supplies can cost well over £74,000 to ship up by rocket. And this includes water, too. The academics estimated that getting a single gallon of water to the Moon would cost £61,000, barely enough to quench the four gallons an astronaut would drink a day. But the researchers say this technology could 'potentially open new doors for future deep space exploration' by eliminating these eye-watering costs. Lead researcher Lu Wang said: 'We never fully imagined the 'magic' that the lunar soil possessed.' Appearances are deceiving when it comes to water on the Moon, where years of being pelted with asteroids and comets have left water on it. Shadowy craters on the lunar poles, known as permanently shadowed regions (PSRs), never see sunshine, meaning there's water ice tucked inside minerals such as ilmenite. The tool developed by the Chinese researchers would involve taking the reoglith – a layer of loose material that blankets solid rock – of ilmenite and heating it using sunlight to release the water. Carbon dioxide is then chucked in, causing the ilmenite to undergo photothermal catalysis – a novel method that uses sunlight to speed up chemical reactions. Wang added in a statement that 'one-step integration of lunar water extraction and photothermal carbon dioxide catalysis' could make efforts to build lunar outposts or Tescos (we assume) more energy efficient. Easier said than done, however, the researchers said, given that 'drastic temperature fluctuations', radiation and low gravity can make harvesting oxygen and water from the land tricky. Nasa's plan to build a colony on the Moon similarly involves making the most of the materials already there. The plan, first reported on in 2023, will involve blasting a 3-D printer into the heavens that will build structures out of lunar concrete created from the rock chips, mineral fragments and dust that cover the Moon. This debris is harmful to humans and is easily kicked up into the air – or rather, the lack of it – as astronauts lumber around in their heavy boots. The first lunar Americans could get some neighbours pretty soon, with South Korea to develop lunar landers by 2040 before building a 'lunar economic base by 2045', according to The Korea Times. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: Longest solar eclipse in 100 years to happen in 2027 – here's where to see it MORE: Astronomers just casually witnessed the birth of a new solar system MORE: France's new rocket Baguette One to go where no baker has gone before
NBC News
3 hours ago
- NBC News
NASA loses another senior official as tension grows about the agency's future
The director of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center announced her resignation Monday, marking yet another high-profile departure as questions loom about the agency's budget and future. Makenzie Lystrup, who has served as director of the center in Maryland since April 2023, will leave the agency on Aug. 1, according to a NASA statement. Goddard oversees a number of key NASA missions, including the Hubble Space Telescope, the Solar Dynamics Observatory and the OSIRIS-REx mission that collected samples from an asteroid. Lystrup's resignation comes less than two months after Laurie Leshin stepped down as director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The departures are playing out as NASA and other government agencies contend with significant cuts to funding and personnel, as part of a broader push to shrink the size of the federal workforce. Questions are swirling internally at NASA and on Capitol Hill about how the space agency can accomplish its work with far fewer personnel and why such cuts are moving ahead before Congress has authorized the agency's budget. Meanwhile, more than 2,000 senior-level employees are set to leave NASA as part of an effort to cut the agency's workforce, as was first reported by Politico. Those include people in senior positions of management and individuals with specialized skills, Politico reported, raising concerns about a 'brain drain' at the space agency. Workers at the space agency have until Friday to accept 'deferred resignations,' buyouts or early retirement offers. President Donald Trump's proposed budget for 2026 would slash about 25%, or more than $6 billion, from NASA's budget. The steepest cuts would come out of the agency's space science, Earth science and mission support divisions, according to the budget blueprint. If enacted by Congress, the budget would also phase out NASA's Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft, which the agency was developing to return astronauts to the moon. In response to the budget blueprint, more than 280 current and former NASA employees signed a letter to Sean Duffy, NASA's interim administrator, stating that the Trump administration's recent policies 'have or threaten to waste public resources, compromise human safety, weaken national security, and undermine the core NASA mission.' The letter, known as the Voyager Declaration, said the changes have caused 'catastrophic impacts' to the agency's workforce, and have 'prioritized political momentum over human safety, scientific advancement, and efficient use of public resources.' Before NASA's prior acting administrator Janet Petro was replaced by Duffy, employees pressed her to explain how the budget cuts and restructuring underway served the best interests of the space agency, according to internal correspondence read by NBC. It's not clear if Lystrup and Leshin's departures are related to the ongoing turmoil at NASA and other government agencies. In NASA's announcement about Leshin's resignation, it said she was stepping down 'for personal reasons.' The agency did not provide a reason for Lystrup's resignation. In an internal email obtained by NBC News, Lystrup said she leaves with 'confidence' in the Goddard's leadership team 'and all of you who will shape the next chapter of this center.' 'I am honored to have been part of this incredible journey with you,' she wrote in the email. 'It has been my privilege.' NASA said Monday that Cynthia Simmons, who currently serves as Goddard's deputy director, will take over as acting center director in August.
