‘New Concorde’ flies for first time – top speed of almost 1,000mph | Science | News
A futuristic-looking plane that could pave the way for a new Concorde has taken to the skies for the first time. The “one-of-a-kind” supersonic X-59 remained airborne for nearly an hour after taking off from the runway at the U.S. Air Force manufacturing facility in Palmdale, California.
The single-seat experimental aircraft was produced for NASA by the American aerospace company Lockheed Martin. The manufacturer said the plane performed “exactly as planned” on a test flight over Southern California on Tuesday morning and landed at Edwards Air Force Base near NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center.
The X-59 was uniquely shaped to fly supersonic without causing a violent sonic boom, a problem that plagued the Anglo-French airliner Concorde.
The jet is almost 30 meters long (100 feet), with its slender nose accounting for almost a third of its length.
Its tapered nose is designed to break up the shock waves that would normally cause a supersonic aircraft to produce a sonic boom.
The sound caused by the aircraft, described as “sonic noise”, is predicted to be much quieter and no louder than a car door closing.
In June last year, NASA’s Lori Ozoroski said: “The sonic noises expected from
“So the startle factor is lower and the sound level is more — we’ve done studies — more like a car door closing at your neighbor’s house across the street, rather than the typical sonic boom that’s very loud.”
Dubbed the ‘Son of Concorde’, the X-59 is designed to cruise at Mach 1.4 (925 miles per hour) at an altitude of 55,000 feet (more than twice as high and faster than current aircraft), while it is expected to have a top speed of Mach 1.5 (990 miles per hour).
It is estimated that the X-59 could fly from London to New York in about four hours less than today’s jet airliners.
While passenger jets currently typically complete the flight in seven or eight hours, estimates suggest the X-59 will take just three hours and 44 minutes.
According to Reuters news agency, based on Lockheed Martin, the X-59 flew at subsonic speeds in the test flight, as expected.
It was stated that the plane reached a speed of 230 miles per hour and an altitude of 12,000 feet.
Lockheed Martin said data from the test will inform the development of “acceptable noise thresholds for supersonic commercial flight over land.”
It was stated that this would pave the way for a new generation of supersonic aircraft that can “carry passengers and cargo twice as fast, efficiently and sustainably as today’s aircraft”.
The X-59 will never carry passengers, but NASA hopes it will usher in a new era of quiet supersonic commercial travel.
The iconic Concorde, operated by British Airways and Air France, was retired from service in 2003.
