Quiet Supersonic Transport (QueSST) X-59

Quiet Supersonic Transport (QueSST) X-59

NASA’s has developed it newest X-plane, the X-59, which is on track to match or exceed the speed of sound with a test in early 2023. The plane is designed to do what the X-1 supersonic plane did, but quietly.

Instead of a thunderous sonic boom that would disturb people on the ground, it should create a softer, less-intrusive “thump.” If successful, its technology could prove fast and safe enough for future commercial passenger transport and can lift the ban flying supersonic overland.

The QueSST (Quiet Supersonic Transport) X-59 being designed by Lockheed Martin, will take to the skies over the Mojave Desert in California. Residents in several neighborhoods it flies over will be able to provide survey comments about any noise they notice. Engineers now have a deeper understanding of how to shape an aircraft to temper the intensity of a sonic boom, particularly with NASA’s Shaped Sonic Boom Demonstration program in 2003 and 2004.

For everyone info, Supersonic flight over land was banned in 1973. Supersonic flight of any commercial craft ended with the final Concorde Supersonic Jet flight in 2003. 

In the 1960s, the Concorde became the first aircraft ferrying passengers on commercial flights. It traversed the Atlantic Ocean, from JFK International Airport to London Heathrow Airport. Facing a host of practical challenges, including cost, only 14 Concorde aircraft ever went into service.

Solar Storm Possibilities Detected

A colossal sunspot on the surface of the sun is large enough to swallow six Earths whole, and could trigger solar flares this week, NASA scientists say.

The giant sunspot was captured on camera by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory as it swelled to enormous proportions over the 48 hours spanning Tuesday and Wednesday (Feb. 19 and 20). SDO is one of several spacecraft that constantly monitor the sun's space weather environment.

"It has grown to over six Earth diameters across, but its full extent is hard to judge since the spot lies on a sphere, not a flat disk," wrote NASA spokeswoman Karen Fox, of the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., in an image description.

The sunspot region is actually a collection of dark blemishes on the surface of the sun that evolved rapidly over the last two days. Sunspots form from shifting magnetic fields at the sun's surface, and are actually cooler than their surrounding solar material.

According to Fox, some of the intense magnetic fields in the sunspot region are pointing in opposite directions, making it ripe for solar activity.

"This is a fairly unstable configuration that scientists know can lead to eruptions of radiation on the sun called solar flares," Fox explained.

The sun is currently in the midst of an active phase of its 11-year solar weather cycle and is expected to reach peak activity sometime this year. The current sun weather cycle is known as Solar Cycle 24.

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory launched in 2010 and is just one of a fleet of spacecraft keeping close watch on the sun for signs of solar flares, eruptions and other space weather events.