Innovation and progress have been the characteristics of aviation since the first aircraft designs made by Santos Dumont and the Wright Brothers.
Commercial flights already have incredible technologies, but now the dream of traveling in silent supersonic planes has become closer to reality with the development of Lockheed Martin X-59.
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Designed by NASA, the X-59 was created under the QueSST program to be the quietest aircraft in the world. In case you didn't know, supersonic planes are known for the boom they make when they fly.
A great example is the Concorde supersonic plane, produced from 1965 onwards. The vehicle traveled from New York to London in three and a half hours, which surprised everyone.
However, its passage through the city caused structural damage and frightened the population due to the noise that exceeded the sound barrier. Because of this, the NASA started the project to muffle the noise of supersonic planes.
The creation of the X-59 has begun to get off the ground so that it is “significantly quieter than the Concorde or any other supersonic aircraft that exists today,” said Craig Nickol, senior advisor to NASA.
On the official website, Lockheed Martin, the company working on the project, reinforced that the mission of the new plane is being done to solve “one of the most persistent challenges of supersonic flight: the boom sonic".
(Image: Lockheed Martin/Reproduction)
According to the team, the Lockheed Martin X-59 will test the aircraft's new design to obtain data used by NASA to “establish an acceptable commercial supersonic noise standard to lift the ban on commercial supersonic travel by Earth".
Such a measure is necessary, as after the disastrous episodes of supersonic planes, the North American Congress prohibited the circulation of this type of flight over land from 1971 onwards, a decision adopted by other nations.
Therefore, the Concorde had a speed limit for flying in populated areas and, even so, the aircraft stopped operating in 2003.
(Image: Lockheed Martin/Garry Tice/Reproduction)
Now, the space agency is working to change the regulation of supersonic planes, through the experimental design of the X-59, a program that has already invested more than US$200 million in the contract with Lockheed Martin.
The new model is around 30.5 meters long, with a difference being at the front of the plane, which represents almost a third of the size.
The aeronautical team's expectation is that the aircraft will be so silent that it will change the direction of legislation, as people will not notice the noise of the supersonic vehicle, which will be very low, as Craig Nickol explained.