NASA’s Quesst Mission

www.nasa.gov

National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Artist illustration of the X-59 taking off from a runway close to 

where the airplane is being assembled and tested at Lockheed 

Martin’s Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California. 

Credit: Lockheed Martin

Quiet Supersonic Flight Over Land

Quesst is NASA’s mission to demonstrate the X-59’s 

ability to fly supersonic without generating loud sonic 

booms and then survey what people hear when it flies 

overhead. Reaction to the quieter sonic “thumps” 

will be shared with regulators who will then consider 

writing new sound-based rules to replace the ban on 

faster-than-sound flight over land. Lifting current bans 

on supersonic flight over land could usher in a new era 

of quiet supersonic flight, greatly reducing flight times. 

Sonic Boom 101

When an aircraft travels faster than the speed of sound, 

shock waves form and travel away from the aircraft. 

Normally, these shock waves merge and generate 

disruptive sonic booms heard on the ground for miles 

on either side of the aircraft’s flight path. The X-59 is 

shaped in a way that prevents the shock waves from 

coming together, resulting in a gentle sonic thump 

instead of the loud sonic boom produced by other 

supersonic aircraft. 

Computer simulation showing how shock waves move away 

from the X-59 as it flies faster than sound. The pattern is 

different from the way shock waves from a conventional 

supersonic aircraft come together to produce a sonic boom. 

Instead, the X-59 will produce a quieter sonic thump. 

Credit: NASA

Testing the X-59

NASA and Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in Palmdale, 

California, designed, built, and will soon conduct initial 

flight testing of the X-59.

The single-seat X-59 is 99.7 feet long, 29.5 feet wide, 

and can cruise at an altitude of 55,000 feet while 

moving at a speed of Mach 1.4 or 925 mph. 

Through a series of flight tests, NASA and Lockheed 

Martin will work together to prove the X-59 performs 

as designed and is safe to fly in the U.S. airspace 

system. After these tests, NASA will conduct a 

series of validation flights to demonstrate the quiet 

supersonic technology works and sonic thumps are 

heard on the ground as expected. 

An artist illustration of NASA’s X-59 in flight over land with 

cities and rural areas below. When the X-59 enters its community testing phase, it will fly over several U.S. cities to 

gather data on how effective the technology is in terms of 

public acceptance.

Credit: Lockheed Martin

Collecting the Data

Later in the mission, NASA will begin flying the X-59 

over several communities (yet to be selected) and ask 

residents for input about the sonic thumps they may 

or may not hear. That information will be delivered to 

the Federal Aviation Administration and international 

regulators for their use in considering new rules that 

would allow commercial supersonic flight over land. 

Collaborative Effort

All four of NASA’s field centers in California, Ohio, 

and Virginia that conduct aeronautics research have 

key roles in developing and evaluating the X-59. 

Together with its partners in government, industry, 

and academia, NASA hopes to enable a new era in 

supersonic commercial aviation. 

NP-2024-03-32427-HQ www.nasa.gov/Quesst