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Journalism of Courage
When the Concorde made its first transatlantic flight in 1976, it was supposed to usher in an era of supersonic flight. But by 2003, the Concorde had flown its last commercial flight. It was plagued by many issues, including high costs of operation and how noisy it was. Now, NASA is using an experimental supersonic aeroplane to tackle the noisy part.
The space agency on Wednesday released a sequence of images showing its experimental X-59 aircraft sitting on the flight line at the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in California. The flight line refers to the space between the hangar and the runway. NASA said that the move from the site of construction to the flight line is one of the many milestones ahead of X-59’s first flight. The aircraft will first have to go through a series of ground tests so that teams can ensure it is safe to fly.
The aircraft is designed to demonstrate technology that will allow supersonic flight while reducing the sonic boom to a “quiet sonic thump,” according to NASA.
“Sonic boom” refers to the sound that is associated with shock waves created when an object travels faster than the speed of sound. The sound that you hear when a whip is cracked is like a miniature version of the sonic boom. But the sonic boom of flights can generate massive amounts of energy, sounding like an explosion or a thunderclap.
Apart from being extremely loud and startling, sonic booms can also cause some damages to structures, like shattering glass and more. This is why supersonic flights are often banned from flying over land.
