Category: Commercial Supersonic Technology

NASA Adds Two F-15 Aircraft to Support Supersonic Flight Research

Two retired U.S. Air Force F-15 jets have joined the flight research fleet at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, transitioning from military service to a new role enabling breakthrough advancements in aerospace. The F-15s will support supersonic flight research for NASA’s Flight Demonstrations and Capabilities project, including testing for the Quesst mission’s […]

NASA’s X-59 Completes First Flight, Prepares for More Flight Testing

After years of design, development, and testing, NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft took to the skies for the first time Oct. 28, marking a historic moment for the field of aeronautics research and the agency’s Quesst mission. The X-59, designed to fly at supersonic speeds and reduce the sound of loud sonic booms to […]

NASA Rehearses How to Measure X-59’s Noise Levels

In a stretch of California’s Mojave Desert, NASA conducted a full-scale “dress rehearsal” to prepare how it will measure the noise generated by the X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft. The team behind the successful test flight series operates under NASA’s Commercial Supersonic Technology project. Beginning June 3 and concluding this week, researchers conducted a dry […]

NASA’s X-59 Quiet Supersonic Aircraft Begins Taxi Tests

NASA/Jacob Shaw NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft has officially begun taxi tests, marking the first time this one-of-a-kind experimental aircraft has moved under its own power. NASA test pilot Nils Larson and the X-59 team, made up of NASA and contractor Lockheed Martin personnel, completed the aircraft’s first low-speed taxi test at U.S. Air […]

NASA F-15s Validate Tools for Quesst Mission

High over the Mojave Desert, two NASA F-15 research jets made a series of flights throughout May to validate tools designed to measure and record the shock waves that will be produced by the agency’s X-59 quiet supersonic experimental aircraft. The F-15s, carrying the recording tools, flew faster than the speed of sound, matching the […]

NASA X-59’s Latest Testing Milestone: Simulating Flight from the Ground

NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft successfully completed a critical series of tests in which the airplane was put through its paces for cruising high above the California desert – all without ever leaving the ground. “The idea behind these tests is to command the airplane’s subsystems and flight computer to function as if it […]

NASA Calibrates Second Shock-Sensing Probe for X-59 Testing

When you’re testing a cutting-edge NASA aircraft, you need specialized tools to conduct tests and capture data –but if those tools need maintenance, you need to wait until they’re fixed. Unless you have a backup. That’s why NASA recently calibrated a new shock-sensing probe to capture shock wave data when the agency’s X-59 quiet supersonic […]

NASA’s X-59 Completes ‘Cruise Control’ Engine Speed Hold Test

The team behind NASA’s X-59 completed another critical ground test in March, ensuring the quiet supersonic aircraft will be able to maintain a specific speed during operation. The test, known as engine speed hold, is the latest marker of progress as the X-59 nears first flight this year. “Engine speed hold is essentially the aircraft’s […]