The X-59 aircraft, the centerpiece of NASA’s Quest mission, was captured on June 19 on the flight line, the space between the hangar and the runway, at a Lockheed Martin plant in California, USA. .).

This move from the construction site to the flying line is one of many milestones preparing the X-59 for its first and subsequent flights. Next, the team will conduct extensive ground testing to ensure the aircraft is safe to fly.

This aircraft is designed to demonstrate the ability to fly supersonic, or faster than Mach 1, while reducing the loud sonic boom to a quiet sonic boom, NASA reports.

NASA will fly the X-59 over several populated areas to collect data on human responses to sound generated during supersonic flight. That dataset will be turned over to U.S. and international regulators to potentially enable overland commercial supersonic flight.

The X-59 is designed so that when it flies supersonic, people on the ground hear nothing but a soft thud, if anything.

NASA’s X-59 aircraft is parked near the runway at the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in Palmdale, California on June 19, 2023. This is where the X-59 will be housed during ground and initial flight testing. Photo: Nasa

It will fly at over 18,000 meters at a speed of about 1,500 kilometers per hour, but it will produce a sound as loud as a car door closing, 75 decibels, rather than the sonic rush typical of airplanes. They fly above the speed of sound.