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 Featured Sols 4214–4215: The Best Laid Plans...3 min readSols 4214–4215: The Best Laid Plans...article1 day ago Hubble Observes a Cosmic Fossil2 min readHubble Observes a Cosmic Fossilarticle19 hours ago Voyager 1 Returning Science Data From All Four Instruments2 min readVoyager 1 Returning Science Data From All Four Instrumentsarticle1 day ago
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 Highlights A large propeller plane takes off from a runway, surrounded by brown and green grasses with low buildings out of focus in the background. The plane is white with a blue stripe down the middle, and has a NASA logo on the tail. The sky is a hazy blue with some clouds.

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2 min read NASA’s Experimental Supersonic Aircraft Now Known as X-59 QueSST


Jim Banke Managing Editor/Senior Writer
 The X-59 designation has been added to the graphic for the Low-Boom Flight Demonstration mission, which depicts the two key aspects of the effort – the X-plane and the community overflight campaigns it will later fly.
NASA / David Faust
 NASA’s newest experimental aircraft, designed with quiet supersonic technology and intended to help open a new era in faster-than-sound air travel over land, will forever be known in the history books as the X-59 QueSST. The U.S. Air Force, which is the government entity responsible for assigning X-number designations and the popular name associated with the aircraft, officially informed NASA of their decision on June 26. “For everyone working on this important project, this is great news and we’re thrilled with the designation,” said Jaiwon Shin, NASA’s associate administrator for aeronautics. “I’m confident that the contributions the X-59 QueSST will make to our nation and the world will ensure its place among the greatest NASA X-planes ever flown,” Shin said. The X-plane number designation continues a tradition of naming important experimental aircraft and rockets that dates back to 1947 and the X-1, the rocket-powered airplane that Chuck Yeager flew to become the first human to fly faster than the speed of sound. In several years, the X-59 QueSST will test its quiet supersonic technologies by flying over communities in the United States.
NASA
 And while that famous X-1 was nicknamed the Glamourous Glennis, for Yeager’s wife, today’s X-59 takes its QueSST nickname from the quiet supersonic technology the aircraft will be equipped with. Now under construction by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company at its famed Skunk Works plant in Palmdale, Calif., the X-59 QueSST is designed so that when flying supersonic, people on the ground will hear nothing more than a sonic thump – if anything at all. Once fully tested and pronounced safe to fly within the National Airspace, the X-59 in late 2022 will begin making supersonic flights over select communities to measure residents’ reactions to any noise they might hear. The scientifically valid data gathered from these community overflights will be presented to U.S. and international regulators, who will use the information to help them come up with rules based on noise levels that enable new commercial markets for supersonic flight over land.


About the Author
 Jim Banke
 Jim Banke is a veteran aviation and aerospace communicator with more than 35 years of experience as a writer, producer, consultant, and project manager based at Cape Canaveral, Florida. He is part of NASA Aeronautics' Strategic Communications Team and is Managing Editor for the Aeronautics topic on the NASA website.


@NASA @NASAaero @NASA_es
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				Last Updated
					Sep 19, 2023
			EditorJim BankeContactJim Bankejim.banke@nasa.gov
	Related TermsAeronauticsAdvanced Air Vehicles ProgramAeronautics Research Mission DirectorateAeronautics TechnologyCommercial Supersonic TechnologyFlight Demos CapabilitiesIntegrated Aviation Systems ProgramLangley Research CenterLow Boom Flight DemonstratorQuesst (X-59)Quesst: The VehicleSupersonic Flight




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 Page Last Updated:
								Sep 19, 2023
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