NASA and Lockheed Martin successfully completed engine performance tests on the X-59, a research aircraft designed to mitigate the loud sonic booms produced by supersonic flight. The tests, which ran from October to February, focused on the single modified F414-GE-100 engine and its subsystems. The X-59's unique design aims to reduce the pressure change caused by supersonic flight, transforming the disruptive sonic boom into a less jarring sonic thump. NASA plans further tests, including those for electromagnetic interference and data handling, before the aircraft's long-awaited first flight.
NASA just wrapped engine performance tests on its X-59 research aircraft, which the space agency hopes will prove a means of mitigating supersonic aircraft’s odious sonic booms.
“We have successfully progressed through our engine ground tests as we planned,” said Raymond Castner, X-59 propulsion lead at NASA’s Glenn Research Center, in an agency. “We were getting smooth and steady airflow as predicted from wind tunnel testing. We didn’t have any structural or excessive vibration issues. And parts of the engine and aircraft that needed cooling were getting it.”
NASA also released some pretty neat footage of the tests, which you can check out below. First, the X-59 team tested out the aircraft’s hydraulics and its electrical and environmental control systems. Then they performed throttle checks and fired the aircraft’s afterburners to the max . Those patterns seen in the plume are known as—standing wave patterns formed by the compression and expansion of exhaust gases as they exit a rocket nozzle at supersonic speeds.
Specifically, tests to check for electromagnetic interference and how the aircraft handles data in normal and failure conditions. Lastly, taxi tests will be carried out—obviously a crucial test to perform given the ultimate goal of making this plane operational.
SUPERSONIC FLIGHT NASA X-59 SONIC BOOM ENGINE TESTS
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