Animation of the X-59 in supersonic flight.

What is the X-59?

NASA's X-59 will fly faster than the speed of sound...quietly.

The X-59 will feature innovative technology to reduce loud sonic booms to a quiet thump.

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Animation of the X-57 in flight over a city.

Why build a Quiet Supersonic Aircraft?

X-59 will demonstrate technology to fly faster than sound as NASA gathers community feedback data.

The data gathered from the X-59 may open the future to commercial supersonic flight over land.

X-59

Faster

Quieter

Quesst

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Animations showing the 4 modications on the X-57.

What's the science of Sound

Understanding sound waves, sonic booms, and the speed of sound are key to understanding how the X-59 will quiet the boom.

The physics of waves

Sound waves and units of measurement

The speed of sound

Sonic booms

Quieting the boom

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Animated gif of an X-57 Maxwell artist concept flying through the clouds.

What tools did we use to design the X-59?

NASA scientists use a lot of technology to explore the science of sound and discover the ways to reduce aircraft noise.

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X-59 QueSST in flight over Pheonix suburbs.

How is the X-59 designed to quiet the boom?

Engineers incorporated several innovative design features into the X-59 to make it quieter and help the pilot control the plane while in flight.

X-59 Features

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Animated NASA Logo on a purple sky

Who are the people behind X-59?

Many people helped design and build X-59. Here's just a few of them.

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Small Wings motor

What's next for X-59?

The X-59 isn't ready to fly yet. Here's an overview of important milestones.

Timeline

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X-59

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