NASA’s experimental X-59 aircraft continues to make progress toward its first flight with a new successful round of testing.
The X-59 “quiet” supersonic jet was designed to break the sound barrier without producing the thunderous sonic booms that typically accompany supersonic flight. And based on the results of the vehicle’s latest tests, conducted at the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California, the X-59 might accomplish that feat soon.
NASA and Lockheed Martin, the latter of which built the X-59, recently put the aircraft through electromagnetic interference testing on the ground. The goal was to ensure its onboard sensors, radio and navigation equipment do not interfere with one another. According to NASA engineers, the X-59 passed with flying colors.
“Reaching this phase shows that the aircraft integration is advancing,” said Yohan Lin, NASA’s X-59 avionics lead, in an agency statement. “It’s exciting to see the progress, knowing we’ve cleared a major hurdle that moves us closer to X-59’s first flight.”
During the tests, NASA not only activated the X-59’s avionics and sensor systems to ensure they didn’t interfere with one another, but also to look for any signs that these systems could affect systems on other research aircraft that will fly behind the X-69 during test flights.
For instance, the agency plans to fly an F-15D jet behind the X-59. This aircraft will be equipped with a specially-designed air probe meant to help measure shockwaves the supersonic jet produces during flight.
“It’s called a source-victim test — essentially, we activate one system and monitor the other for issues like noise, glitches, faults, or errors,” Lin said.
As such, during the recent tests, NASA staged an F-15D just 47 feet (14 meters) from the X-59 to “confirm there’s compatibility between the two aircraft, even at close proximity,” Lin said.
After that, the F-15D and X-59 were further separated on the ground to sit at a distance of 500 feet (152 meters) from one another, which simulated the conditions in which they will fly together.
“You want to make discoveries of any potential electromagnetic interference or electromagnetic compatibility issues on the ground first,” Lin said. “This reduces risk and ensures we’re not learning about problems in the air.”
Now that the X-59 has cleared electromagnetic interference testing, engineers will test its avionics and telemetry systems by feeding it data while on the ground to simulate what it might experience during flight.
To create an aircraft that can break the sound barrier while producing only a “thump” that can be heard on the ground below, NASA and Lockheed Martin gave the X-59 a unique, elongated geometry and placed the engine right on top of the aircraft.
Because of its long nose, the radical-looking X-59 doesn’t feature a forward-looking windscreen. To see in front of it, pilots will instead use an augmented reality display that feeds views from cameras into screens in the cockpit.
During testing, NASA will fly the X-59 over populated areas in the U.S. to study how its quieter supersonic “thump” is perceived by people on the ground. Supersonic flight above populated areas has been prohibited for decades due to the disruptions that sonic booms can cause — but, if successful, the X-59 could someday pave the way for quieter supersonic passenger aircraft.
