Supersonic tunnel trials suggest the X-59’s shape can scatter shock waves, paving the way for hush-hush high-speed flight.

Researchers from NASA and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) recently tested a scale model of the X-59 ...

Discover how NASA's groundbreaking X-59 aircraft aims to break the sound barrier in silence, paving the way for a new era of quiet supersonic travel. Recent wind tunnel tests reveal promising results.

NASA plans to conduct community overflights beginning this year, flying the X-59 over select American cities to collect public feedback on the “sonic thump.” ...

Witness NASA and JAXA’s 19-inch X-59 scale model hit Mach 1.4 (925 mph) in Tokyo’s wind tunnel as researchers chase a quieter sonic thump.

NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft sits on the apron outside Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works facility at dawn in Palmdale, California. (Image credit: Lockheed Martin Skunk Works) ...

NASA’s X-59 will help change the way we travel, bringing us closer together in much less time,” said NASA deputy administrator Pam Melroy in a statement.

To see if that affects the X-59, NASA and Lockheed Martin put the plane on the tarmac right next to the F-15, at a distance of 47 feet (14 meters) at first, and then at 500 feet (152 meters).

The X-59 borrowed from existing aircraft, including an existing engine that they modified to fly faster for longer periods of time, a cockpit from a T-38 and landing gear off of an F-16.

NASA’s X-59 aircraft is parked near the runway at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in Palmdale, California, on June 19, 2023. This is where the X-59 will be housed during ground and initial flight tests.

The X-59 is so long and streamlined that its cockpit has no forward-facing window. Instead, the pilot uses an External Vision System (XVS) created by NASA to fly the plane.

NASA’s newest X-plane, the X-59, is on track to match or exceed the speed of sound with a test in early 2023, the space agency says.The plane is designed to do what the X-1 supersonic test ...