NASA’s X-59 research aircraft has reached the speed and altitude planned for future community overflight testing, flying Mach 1.4 and climbing to 55,000 feet during a June 12 test flight. According to NASA, the flight was the first time the aircraft reached both conditions in the same mission.
The milestone follows the X-59’s first supersonic flight, which took place earlier in June at Mach 1.1. NASA said the aircraft still has several months of performance testing ahead before it begins the next phases of the Quesst mission. The program is built to gather data on how people on the ground respond to the aircraft’s reduced sonic signature during supersonic flight over U.S. communities.
The X-59 has been flying alongside a NASA F-15 research aircraft during early supersonic testing. NASA said the F-15 will later carry a shock-sensing probe to measure the X-59’s shock wave signature before the aircraft moves into acoustic validation testing. That phase will be used to measure the sound signature of the aircraft before the planned community overflights.
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