Aviation Week reports that despite problems “that delayed the X-59 Low-Boom Flight Demonstration program from its scheduled flight debut in 2021, no obvious obstacles stand in the way of the aircraft flying for the first time in the late spring or early summer.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
Tag: Supersonic Travel
X-59 Promises to Open a New Era of Supersonic Travel
The Times (UK) reports the X-59, built by Skunk Works, “promises to open a new era of supersonic travel.” The X-59 “has been designed to fly faster than the speed of sound without generating the thunderous, window-rattling sonic boom that has, until now, accompanied all supersonic flight. Instead, it should produce what NASA describe as a ‘gentle sonic thump’ – about as loud as a car door being slammed several metres away. The aim is to persuade regulators, including in Britain, to amend rules that have banned faster-than-sound commercial flights over land since the 1970s because of the noise nuisance.” Later this year, according to The Times, the “X-59 will pass over densely populated areas of the US. Residents will be asked what they think about the thump and the findings will guide future legislation.”
Full Story (The Times {UK})
After the Concorde, a Long Road Back to Supersonic Travel
An Ars Technica report discusses the possibility of achieving supersonic flight without loud booms, noting that NASA is working on it. “The X-59 is being built to do a series of supersonic test flights over American cities to boom people living there.” Then NASA will collect feedback “from those on the ground and compile it into a data pack for the aviation authorities, the FAA and the International Civil Aviation Administration.” That data is then expected to be “part of a push to lift the ban on supersonic flight over land and replace it with an acceptable noise standard.”
Full Story (Ars Technica)
Commercial Supersonic Travel Could Shrink the World
Panelists: Moderator Peter Coen, project manager of commercial supersonic technology, NASA’s Langley Research Center; Michael Buonanno, deputy chief engineer, QueSST X-Plane, Lockheed Martin; Robert Cowart, director of supersonic technology development, Gulfstream Aerospace; Vik Kachoria, president and CEO, Spike Aerospace; Blake Scholl, founder and CEO, Boom Technology; Gurdip Singh Ubhi, business development executive, Rolls-Royce
by Tom Risen, Aerospace America Staff Reporter (2017-2018)
Advances including aerodynamics, propulsion and composites can make supersonic flight more affordable and open more travel routes than the commercial flights once offered by the British Airways Concorde, a panel of aviation executives said during the 2017 AIAA AVIATION Forum in Denver.
Supersonic flight can “shrink the world” the same way subsonic jet flight did by making it easier for families to visit relatives or vacation or for executives to make business trips, Blake Scholl, founder and CEO of Colorado-based startup Boom Technology, said June 6 in the “Supersonic Transport” panel.
The Concorde had a top speed of Mach 2, or more than 2,000 kph, when it flew commercial flights between 1976 and 2003. The plane was too expensive to fly on limited commercial routes, however, so it “was an economic catastrophe,” Scholl said.
Advances including carbon composites and improved propulsion, however, make it more affordable to build a new generation commercial supersonic jet, Scholl said. In 2018, Boom plans to test the XB-1, a prototype version one-third the size of a supersonic airliner it hopes to debut and certify in the early 2020s.
Supersonic flight, however, creates noise that can not only disturb people and wildlife, but also can have environmental impact — like causing avalanches in mountain ranges, said Vik Kachoria, CEO of Spike Aerospace in Boston.
For this reason, the FAA banned supersonic flights over land even before Concordes began flying over the Atlantic. Reducing the noise of a sonic boom could make it more acceptable for regulators in the U.S. and Europe to allow supersonic flight routes around the world that could take hours off travel time.
To address the noise problem, Spike is developing its S-512 Quiet Supersonic Jet, which aims to cruise with 18 passengers at Mach 1.6 without producing a loud, disturbing sonic boom on the ground, Kachoria said.
This new generation of supersonic commercial travel will be available mainly to the “super rich for now,” Kachoria said, adding there will be a demand for people to travel to London for important business meetings within three or four hours.
“We’ll figure out how to do it better, faster, larger,” he said.
Selling supersonic jets or commercial flights to the wealthy who can afford it “breaches the market; it opens the door,” said Robert Cowart, director of supersonic technology development at Gulfstream Aerospace.
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NASA’s X-59 Supersonic Jet Passes Key ‘Cruise Control’ Test Ahead of First Flight
SPACE reports, “NASA’s new X-59 supersonic jet is a step closer to flight after passing an important ground test in March. Known as “engine speed hold,” the test ensured that the X-59 can maintain a specific speed when it flies for the first time later this year. “Engine speed hold is essentially the aircraft’s version of cruise control,” Paul Dees, NASA’s X-59 deputy propulsion lead at Armstrong Flight Research Center in California, said in a statement. “The pilot engages speed hold at their current speed, then can adjust it incrementally up or down as needed.”
Full Story (SPACE)
NASA Chief Says X-59 Will Still Play Key Role in Return to Supersonic Flight
Aviation Week reports, “The X-59 low boom demonstrator remains highly relevant, says NASA’s acting administrator. Although running years behind its original schedule, the NASA aircraft is still expected to play a key role in helping ICAO and the FAA develop a noise certification standard for sonic booms that could clear the way for legal overland civil fight at higher supersonic speeds.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)