X-59: NASA moves toward commercial supersonic travel

X-59: NASA moves toward commercial: Oh, for the good old days of flying, when planes had roomier seats, better food, and could traverse the Atlantic in under three hours.

Since Concorde’s 2003 retirement, quick Atlantic flights are outdated. However, London-New York flights take over seven hours. The record time from New York to London is under five hours thanks to a jet stream.

However, supersonic flying has returned, and NASA believes that trips between New York and London might take 90 minutes.

The space agency recently studied commercial flights up to Mach 4, or more than 3,000 miles per hour, in a blog post about its “high-speed strategy”.

According to NASA’s Glenn Research Center, “potential passenger markets… exist on about 50 established routes.” These routes were transoceanic, especially over the North Atlantic and Pacific, because governments like the US banned supersonic flying overland.

X-59: NASA moves toward commercial supersonic travel

NASA is building a “quiet” supersonic aircraft called the X-59 for its Quests program. The government expects the new aircraft to amend existing regulations to allow Mach 2–Mach 4 aircraft. The Concorde reached 1,354 mph, or Mach 2.04. A Mach 4 plane could go transatlantic in 90 minutes.

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The Advanced Air Vehicles Program (AAV) of NASA will move on to the next phase of its high-speed travel research after the study is complete by hiring companies to develop designs and “explore air travel possibilities, outline risks and challenges, and identify needed technologies to make Mach 2-plus travel a reality,” the agency said. There will be two teams conducting the research, one under the direction of Boeing and the other under Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems. Each will create designs for aircraft capable of flying at supersonic speeds.

Fast-changing future

Similar tests carried out ten years earlier helped create the X-59 aircraft, according to Lori Ozoroski, project manager for NASA’s Commercial Supersonic Technology Project. The fresh research, according to her, will “refresh those looks at technology roadmaps and identify additional research needs for a broader high-speed range.”

According to NASA Hypersonic Technology Project Manager Mary Jo Long-Davis, “safety, efficiency, economics, and societal considerations” will be part of the upcoming phase. “Responsible innovation is crucial.

The Lockheed Martin-built NASA X-59 test aircraft aims to convert sonic booms into thumps in order to enable overland supersonic flight. Ground trials and a first test flight are planned for later this year. NASA intends to furnish US authorities with enough data by 2027.