Lockheed Martin and NASA plan to unveil supersonic airplane to reduce flight times
Kyiv • UNN
Lockheed Martin and NASA plan to unveil the X-59, an airplane capable of flying at 1.5 times the speed of sound and reduced sonic noise, which could shorten flight times.
Lockheed Martin Corporation and NASA plan to give the public a look at an airplane that could help airlines significantly speed up flights, writes UNN citing Bloomberg.
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"The X-59, which will be unveiled Friday afternoon in Palmdale, California, is designed to fly faster than the speed of sound with much less noise," the report said.
As indicated, when airplanes break the sound barrier (called Mach 1), a loud and continuous sonic boom is created that can shatter windows on the ground. The U.S. banned civilian airplanes from traveling at this speed over land in 1973.
In 2018, Lockheed Martin won a contract worth about $250 million to build a demonstrator airplane that has room for one pilot and is powered by General Electric Co.'s F414 engine to help overcome that hurdle. The airplane is designed to reach speeds of 1.5 times the speed of sound, with the sonic boom reduced to a low impact thanks to its V-shaped wing and extended nose. The company originally planned to launch the X-59 in 2021. According to NASA, the entire project, including testing, will cost about $632 million over eight years.
If the X-59 proves successful and is then used in commercial aviation, flight times could drop significantly. Lockheed said it would be able to reach speeds of 925 miles per hour (1,49,000 kilometers per hour), far surpassing today's narrow-body passenger jets, which have a top speed of about 550 miles per hour (885 kilometers per hour). But in addition to overcoming the sonic shock, the industry will have to contend with stricter airport noise regulations than when the European-built Concorde stopped supersonic flights in 2003. The environmental impact of aviation emissions is also under increased scrutiny. .
The aircraft is not yet ready for flight and will undergo additional ground testing to determine if any further assembly adjustments are required, NASA engineer Mark Mangelsdorf said. The X-59 is expected to make its first flight later this year, but no date has been set. The research aircraft is planned to fly over yet-to-be-selected population centers to measure whether the ground noise level is low enough to be accepted by the public.
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