NASA moves a step closer to supersonic passenger flights | CNN
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A new study by NASA’s Glenn Research Center has looked at the possibility of supersonic passenger jets. Its “high-speed strategy” is mooting commercial flights that travel at up to Mach 4 – over 3,000 miles per hour – starting with transoceanic routes.

In July, Lockheed Martin completed the build of NASA’s X-59 test aircraft, which is designed to turn sonic booms into mere thumps, in the hope of making overland supersonic flight a possibility. Ground tests and a first test flight are planned for later in the year. NASA aims to have enough data to hand over to US regulators in 2027.

  • @MattMillz@lemmy.world
    9•1 year ago

    But we already had the Concorde… It stopped flying due to fuel costs and limited flight paths only allowed over oceans, no super sonic flying over land. Has NASA fixed these issues?

    • RandomStickman
      35•1 year ago

      That’s what they’re trying to solve, the sonic boom. The spike in the front is supposed to reduce the boom, which hopefully leads to legal supersonic overland travel.

      However, time and time again, the market showed that people value the price tag over anything else. The Concorde didn’t make it, the A380 isn’t looking good. Anything with a high operational cost doesn’t seem like it would last, especially with push for greener tech.

        • keeb420
          2•1 year ago

          yeah i experienced a sonic boom once, obama came to seattle and a small private plane accidentally entered the restricted airspace, that was one too many. even if its lessend its not gonna be pleasant to be under.

          • @Ryumast3r@lemmy.world
            6•1 year ago

            They’re promising a perceived 75 dB level, equivalent to the volume of a dishwasher. Sonic booms are normally about 110 dB or about a jackhammer or a rock concert

            And it’s not like you’d hear it all the time, just once in a while and only if you’re in the flight path.

            • keeb420
              3•1 year ago

              will it reduce the air pressure difference on the ground? i was in a building and it moved. i felt it. sound is only one problem.

              Overpressure
              Sonic booms are measured in pounds per square foot
              of overpressure. This is the amount of the increase
              over the normal atmospheric pressure which surrounds
              us (2,116 psf/14.7 psi).
              At one pound overpressure, no damage to structures
              would be expected.
              Overpressures of 1 to 2 pounds are produced by
              supersonic aircraft flying at normal operating altitudes. Some public reaction could be expected between 1.5 and 2 pounds.
              Rare minor damage may occur with 2 to 5 pounds
              overpressure.
              As overpressure increases, the likelihood of structural
              damage and stronger public reaction also increases.
              Tests, however, have shown that structures in good
              condition have been undamaged by overpressures of
              up to 11 pounds.
              Sonic booms produced by aircraft flying supersonic at
              altitudes of less than 100 feet, creating between 20 and
              144 pounds overpressure, have been experienced by
              humans without injury.
              Damage to eardrums can be expected when overpressures reach 720 pounds. Overpressures of 2160
              pounds would have to be generated to produce lung
              damage.

              https://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/pdf/120274main_FS-016-DFRC.pdf

            • @KevonLooney@lemm.ee
              0•1 year ago

              They’re promising

              I guarantee it will be louder than that. Unless the flight path is directly over a senator’s house or an historic golf club (where donors play), it will be too loud.

              Literally make the flight path over the richest part of town or I won’t believe it.

              • @Ryumast3r@lemmy.world
                2•1 year ago

                NASA has no control of flight paths. The FAA also doesn’t specify sonic-boom allowed flight paths. They just outright ban it (with a few exceptions) for any boom that could reach anywhere in the US.

                FAA also doesn’t want to deal with people complaining about sonic booms like they did back in the 50s when this all started (they received tens of thousands of complaints) so they have an interest in making sure NASA lives up to their promises.

    • @deconstruct@lemm.eeOP
      17•1 year ago

      That’s the idea behind the prototype. The sonic booms are lessened so overland flights will be permitted.