Suggested Searches

In this photo, NASA’s X-59 aircraft is shown at sunrise at the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in Palmdale, California. Open desert can be seen behind the aircraft. The X-59’s design features a long nose, approximately one-third of the aircraft’s nearly 100-foot length, swept-back wings, and an engine mounted on top and toward the rear of the fuselage.

NASA’s X-59 Sits on Ramp

NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft sits on the ramp at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in Palmdale, California during sunrise, shortly after completion of painting. With its unique design, including a 38-foot-long nose, the X-59 was built to demonstrate the ability to fly supersonic, or faster than the speed of sound, while reducing the typically loud sonic boom produced by aircraft at such speeds to a quieter sonic “thump”. The X-59 is the centerpiece of NASA’s Quesst mission, which seeks to solve one of the major barriers to supersonic flight over land, currently banned in the United States, by making sonic booms quieter.

Image Credit: NASA/Steve Freeman
Download