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New Experimental Lockheed Supersonic Jet Starts Production (wtop.com)
Lockheed Martin's X-59 Quiet Supersonic Technology aircraft is officially in "the manufacturing phase," bringing the company "one step closer to enabling supersonic travel for passengers around the world." The experimental jet was awarded a contract from NASA earlier this year as it is capable of flying at supersonic speeds without creating loud supersonic booms. Currently, commercial supersonic aircraft are banned from flying over land because of the noise and potential damage the booms may cause. WTOP reports: "The long, slender design of the aircraft is the key to achieving a low sonic boom," said Peter Iosifidis, Low Boom Flight Demonstrator program manager at Lockheed Martin. "As we enter into the manufacturing phase, the aircraft structure begins to take shape, bringing us one step closer to enabling supersonic travel for passengers around the world," he said.
Lockheed expects to conduct its first flight in 2021 and gather community response data on the acceptability of the "quiet sonic boom" the plane creates. NASA will use that information to establish an acceptable commercial supersonic noise standard to overturn current regulations banning supersonic travel over land. The X-59 will cruise at a speed of about 940 mph and an altitude of 55,000 feet. Lockheed says it will create a sound about as loud as a car door closing, instead of a deafening sonic boom.
Lockheed expects to conduct its first flight in 2021 and gather community response data on the acceptability of the "quiet sonic boom" the plane creates. NASA will use that information to establish an acceptable commercial supersonic noise standard to overturn current regulations banning supersonic travel over land. The X-59 will cruise at a speed of about 940 mph and an altitude of 55,000 feet. Lockheed says it will create a sound about as loud as a car door closing, instead of a deafening sonic boom.
why is NASA subsidizing a commercial project... i guess they DO have to much money?!!!!
"A low sonic boom" is still a noise event that may exceed urban noise limits, and should be restricted to airports that have runways that end at the sea in an industrial/commercial zone, not near residential population.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
If the booms were supersonic, nobody would even complain.
Alas, the booms are indeed sonic.
I know you paid a quarter for that word, but my advice: Ask for change.
"The long and slender design..."
Probably means fewer passengers and a really crappy fuel economy per passenger compared with the wider and slower jets in service.
A dingo ate my sig...
well, damn near... Still not as fast as a .223, so it's stupid.
Nothing less than mach 2 will do. We should be doing mach 5 or 6, but, the primitive apes that we are, probably don't want to offend their gods.
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This looks like a modern version of the OLD X planes. In other words, it is to be used for proving concepts. I still think they are out to correct the complaints about the old SST(Cost per flirght, noise)
Anonymous comments are as pathetic as the anonymous "sources" that contaminate gutless journalism from the New York Time
That's 1513 km/h (or 420 m/s) and 16.8 km.
According to NASA's mach speed calculator, that's Mach 1.42.
They are building just one of these.
With nothing less than civilization at stake, it's a wonder that these projects are being embraced by the organizations that understand implications of climate change.
The Concorde burnt 2 tonnes of fuel just taxiing the runways. 16L/100km per passenger in the air, or half the efficiency of the average car. I'm sure there will be relative improvements. But supersonic jets are a luxury few of us can afford monetarily, and none of us can afford in terms of emissions.
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I still think they are out to correct the complaints about the old SST(Cost per flirght, noise)
If that existing shape is the only way to achieve [sub-optimal] quiet supersonic flight, they'll have to scale it up to rather large airframes or this'll remain a boutique tech for a small handful of impatient ultra-rich.
As an aside, seems to me 'quiet overland nach1+' is all well and good unless it means utterly-unviable designs capacity/economy-wise...
Just have a look how well supersonic flights sold when Concorde was still active...
the fUtuRe of the
The reason a sonic boom happens, is that when you're moving at the speed of sound, the fastest that a wave can propagate through air is the speed of sound.
This means that you rip through the air, and what's behind you, is a vacuum, that collapses. That's what the sonic boom is. There's no way to eliminate it.
Remember the vaporware that MS and other large companies were created back in the 1990's and early 2000's? This is just another example of it. I remember that 3 years ago, Lockheed has perfected a fusion generator. Lockheed lies, a lot, now.
A waverider should generate little sonic boom because of where the shockwave is placed. We also know how to build them and they should be capable of passenger loads comparable to - or better than - the high-end Airbusses.
I assume they're not the design used because they're a bugger to make stable and NASA had some accidents, but that would seem a better way to go.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
Is this really going to happen? Or is it like all the commercial space flights which were supposed to start flying in 2015, then 2016, then 2017, ...?
Hey y'all. Check out the photos of the thing. It looks awesome, and has the realistic capacity of a private jet, and a small one at that! This plane may allow civilians to travel at 60% the speed of Concorde, but it will not be commercial at its current size. It will be a private jet. For reference, Concorde had room for 120 passengers and a flight crew of 6 or 7, including the navigator!
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why is NASA subsidizing a commercial project..
You don't have any clue what NASA does do you? Research is their primary mission, specifically including public/private research partnerships. This is how NASA's research activities benefit the US. NASA research eventually gets turned over to the private sector and we all benefit from it - the term for this is technology transfer. This is exactly the sort of "subsidy" you want because no private company could justify the risk for such an exotic and unproven technology.
Also you do realize NASA doesn't build rockets or aircraft themselves right? They hire contractors to build and operate them including lockheed. NASA isn't an intergalactic bus and freight service and shouldn't be. Furthermore this is an X plane. The X stands for experimental. This is a public/private research project which if it works it will result in jobs and grow our economy. Call it a subsidy if you want but technology research like this is among the best uses for tax dollars there are. The internet that you are using right at this moment is a great example of a US government (DARPA) research project that resulted in a gigantic ROI to the American people.
i guess they DO have to much money?!!!!
Every dollar we spend on NASA results in somewhere between a 7X-14X return on that investment to our economy. Are you seriously arguing we should reduce our investment on something that has that much benefit? Especially when NASA's budget accounts for 0.5% of the federal budget?
"A low sonic boom" is still a noise event that may exceed urban noise limits
I'll buy that argument when urban areas start actively banning Harley Davidson motorcycles and other more mundane sources of unnecessary noise pollution.
In any case if this aircraft does what they hope then it will be FAR quieter than any noise restrictions in most communities at around 75dB perceived.
"The long and slender design..."
Probably means fewer passengers and a really crappy fuel economy per passenger compared with the wider and slower jets in service.
Some people are willing to burn money to save time.
What do you think was the demographics of those taking the Concorde?
I work in product development. To me, production implies sellable units. Lockheed is manufacturing a prototype. Big difference. Call it manufacturing, developing, fabricating, but don't call it production. This thing may never see true production.
One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
Will this be the same "... gather community response data ..." that they didn't offer pilots for the F-35 piece of shit that ran over schedule and over budget?
Does Lockheed Martin have fucking pictures of prominent politicians with goddam donkeys?
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
one day, we too, will have our beloved concord!
Now that you've solved this existential crisis of sonic booms using the amazing and wonderful powers of regulation, could you solve some of these other life-threatening problems?
Uneven distribution of punctuation marks in literature
Livestock that spend too long gazing in a particular direction
Avacados that overly resemble frightening characters on tv shows
Thanks, government helpers! You're the best!