Although NASA’s X-59 is designed to fly supersonic, its test flight schedule is about more than just going gradually faster and higher – sometimes, to make sure the aircraft is fully mission-ready, slower and lower is the way to go.
The X-59 has completed initial test flights at high altitudes and near-supersonic speeds, opening the door for additional flights focused on its full operating range. These more recent, lower-altitude flights at lesser speeds are helping to confirm the X-plane’s performance across a wide range of conditions, including flying with the landing gear both retracted and extended.
“Our priority was to get as high and fast as soon as we could to allow the team to investigate the higher-risk portion of the envelope, then to work through the lower-altitude and lower-speed region while the team worked through the findings,” said Cathy Bahm, Low Boom Flight Demonstrator project manager at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California.
During this current set of flights, teams are evaluating flying qualities, structural loads, and flutter performance to better understand how the aircraft responds throughout its operating range. Tests at various combinations of speed, altitude, and configurations will generate data needed to support future flights.
As part of this effort, the team also conducts flights that pass only 500 feet above the runway, both with the X-59’s landing gear up and down, to support air data system assessments. In some cases, the team will repeat previously flown tests, but with the incorporation of strain gauges – sensors that help measure forces on the aircraft – to monitor how the X-59 responds during flight.
The flights might be slower and lower, but the X-59 team is maintaining the fast pace of testing, including multiple days with dual flight tests. The data gathered during this set of tests will help the team prepare for later test conditions as the X-59 continues through its planned flight test campaign.
More information on NASA’s Quesst mission is available online.
More X-59 to Explore
AERONAUTICS RESEARCH MISSION
Quesst
Quesst is the name of NASA Aeronautics’ mission to help take the first step toward enabling commercial, faster-than-sound air travel over land. The centerpiece of the mission is NASA’s X-59 research aircraft. The experimental supersonic jet is designed with technology that reduces the loudness of a sonic boom to a gentle thump. NASA will fly the X-59 over select U.S. communities and take surveys to record what people think of the quieter sonic thumps. The human response data will be delivered to U.S. and international regulators, who will consider setting new rules that allow supersonic flight over land.
