Exclusive look at NASA's low-boom supersonic plane

NASA and Lockheed Martin have reinvented aviation with the X-59 low-boom supersonic aircraft. And when it flies, they're hoping you won't even notice it.

[clairereilly]

I'm sad I never got to fly on Concorde (the '70s fashion in those ads was 😚👌) but I would definitely want to fly on a supersonic jet! But would it be worth the ticket price?

[kimswaden-ward]

Isn’t “Breakfast in Paris dinner in New York” already possible?

More like breakfast in Paris second breakfast in New York.

[sanjulienne]

I flew Concorde one-way (using miles) and it was the experience of a lifetime. We took off like a rocket ship going 250mph down the runway (average speed is 160-180mph) climbing at 24, 000ft per minute. Broke the first sound barrier around 1:25 and continued to increase both altitude and speed eventually reaching 58, 000ft and 1350mph at 2.0. I saw the black of space out the window, two sunsets, had champagne, caviar, cheese, lobster and more champagne, and we arrived before we left... Paris to NYC in 3.5hrs. I'd do it again tomorrow, an experience I'll never have again. Amazing!!

[XLR]

Its amazing how we went to the moon in 1969 and commercial supersonic in and stopped. Its 2021 and we are doing it the right way now! We proved it was possible, now we are making it practical and actually safer.

[boedillard]

I'd love to fly from LA to NY in a fraction of the time but I'd settle for just getting some legroom back.

[alunjones]

Concorde was a collaboration between BAC and Aerospatiale. British Airways and Air France were the customers.

[Aybman]

You know the way Lockheed is building the X-59 is actually really cool. When I interned there I literally worked in the construction are for it. They had the plane split into 3 parts. The front middle and back. They had them separated so that they could work on each piece separately. Then when finished with everything they would just pull the pieces together and secure them. It was really cool watching the engineers work on the plane and literally seeing the 3D models of the plane being worked on. And learning the challenges that these great engineers had to deal with!

[fearlessknight]

More importantly, is this plane going to be included in the next Flight Simulator 2025?! :P

[OriginalBernieBro]

"... soon anyone could travel at super Sonic speeds" only then to cite the enormous ticket prices. 😯

[hifijohn]

it's huge for just one person, so how long would it be for 100 passengers.

[IAmAStreamerToo]

If this is what is public information, I can't imagine what is classified.

[seankim]

It's not just the noise level. It's also the fuel economy - going supersonic also accelerates fuel consumption at supersonic level.
I hope the jet engine efficiency upgrades also match the noise reduction improvements. Otherwise, this will only be applicable to those who can afford $15000 per ticket - which, to me, is nonsense.

[peronik]

on the reduction from 105 decibel to 75 decibel; it is a huge reduction.
the decibel is a very strange unit, when the decibels go up (or down) by 3 points the sound power is multiplied by 2 (or divided by 2 respectively).
from 105 to 75 is 30 decibel, the sound will be divided by 2 10 times in a row.
in other words the "boom" of the x59 will be ~ 5% of that of the "concorde" (not 5% less, just 5%)

[calsvlogs]

The only sonic boom I’ll be hearing would be coming from my heart

[ajrestivo]

Kinda odd they're comparing a 200 foot long passenger plane to a 90 something foot long 1 person plane

[michaelogden]

If you've never heard a sonic boom in person, it's impressive. I lived near a military installation (in the US) during the Vietnam war. The jet jockeys in their training flights, maybe once every 2 weeks, got a little hot. I've watched windows cracking while sitting in a house. Nobody I knew ever got hysterical over it. It was just "part of the deal" that came with living near such an installation.

[raw_pc]

Commercial planes of that type are going to be long AF :D epic designs incoming

[gfresh]

Cheers to all the engineers who unlock their creative spirit to bring us such technological marvels that advance the human race one leap at a time. Bravo!

[Centerflow]

I flew the concord in the 86. France to Washington. Then slowly to Austin Tx on a regular flight that took longer than the concord. We were at the edge of space. 32 miles per second. Two sonic booms. I sat up front where a display of instruments were displayed. First class Super sonic service drinking champagne and more. A fantastic experience at the age of 36. Look forward to the success of new plane

[LokiDWolf]

This is pretty cool stuff! And, I'm happy that the industry as a whole might be getting an overhaul in 8 years. Pretty exciting!!!