NASA's Quiet SST Program Earns Latest X-Number | Aviation International News

NASA's Quiet SST Program Earns Latest X-Number

The $247.5 million test program with Lockheed Martin will now be known as the X-59 QueSST. It is expected to fly by 2023.

An artist rendering shows what could be flying over U.S. cities in a test program by 2023. If successful, the X-59 could pave the way for a new generation of supersonic civil aircraft. (Image: NASA)

By Curt Epstein • Business Aviation Services Editor

July 2, 2018

NASA’s silent supersonic aircraft test program, previously known as the Low-Boom Flight Demonstration mission, has progressed to the point that it has been awarded a coveted X-number by the U.S. Air Force. The X-59 QueSST name and number was bestowed on the $247.5 million Lockheed Martin Aeronautics project, which aims to build an aircraft that can fly over cities at supersonic speeds while suppressing the resulting sonic boom to little more than a “sonic thump.”

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