{"id":233134,"date":"2025-06-11T02:14:22","date_gmt":"2025-06-10T16:14:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/?p=875085"},"modified":"2025-06-11T02:14:22","modified_gmt":"2025-06-10T16:14:22","slug":"nasa-f-15s-validate-tools-for-quesst-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=233134","title":{"rendered":"NASA F-15s Validate Tools for Quesst Mission"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n

5 min read<\/p>\n

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
\"A<\/a><\/figure>
\n
NASA’s F-15D research aircraft conducts a calibration flight of a shock-sensing probe near NASA\u2019s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. The shock-sensing probe is designed to measure the signature and strength of shock waves in flight. The probe was validated during dual F-15 flights and will be flown behind NASA\u2019s X-59 to measure small pressure changes caused by shock waves in support of the agency’s Quesst mission.<\/div>\n
NASA\/Jim Ross<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u2019s X-59 quiet supersonic experimental aircraft.<\/p>\n

The F-15s, carrying the recording tools, flew faster than the speed of sound, matching the conditions the X-59 is expected to fly. The X-59 is the centerpiece of NASA\u2019s Quesst mission to gather data that can help lead to quiet commercial supersonic flight over land.<\/p>\n

The team behind the successful test flight series operates under the Schlieren, Airborne Measurements, and Range Operations for Quesst (SCHAMROQ) project at NASA\u2019s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. There, they developed tools that will measure and visualize the X-59’s unique shock waves when it flies at Mach 1.4 and altitudes above 50,000 feet. For a typical supersonic aircraft, those shock waves would result in a sonic boom. But thanks to the X-59’s design and technologies, it will generate just a quiet thump.<\/p>\n

Cheng Moua, engineering project manager for SCHAMROQ, described the validation flight campaign as \u201ca graduation exercise \u2013 it brings all the pieces together in their final configuration and proves that they will work.\u201d<\/p>\n

NASA began to develop the tools years ago, anchored by the arrival of one of the two F-15s \u2013 an F-15D from the U.S. Air Force \u2013 a tactical aircraft delivered without research instrumentation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt showed up as a former war-fighting machine without a research-capable instrumentation system \u2013 no telemetry, no HD video, no data recording,\u201d Cheng said. \u201cNow it\u2019s a fully instrumented research platform.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team used both F-15s to validate three key tools:<\/p>\n