How to Watch NASA’s X-59 Quiet Supersonic Plane Roll Out of the Hangar

Isaac Schultz
·2 min read
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Concept art of the painted X-59 aircraft in its hangar.
Concept art of the painted X-59 aircraft in its hangar.

NASA’s freshly painted X-59 aircraft will be rolled out of its hangar on Friday, January 12, in the lead-up to its first takeoff. The experimental plane, built by Lockheed Martin, is designed to develop a quieter type of supersonic flight.

The X-59 is the keystone of NASA’s Quesst mission, which aims to demonstrate supersonic flight that only produces a sonic ‘thump’ rather than the deafening sonic booms that supersonic aircraft typically produce. The mission’s first flight is expected this year and testing will run through 2027.

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Some 77 years later, the X-59 will carry on that supersonic mantle. The X-59 rollout just marks the beginning of the Quesst mission’s first phase. Phase 2 will prove out the quiet supersonic technology and test the plane’s performance in the air. Finally, in 2026, the X-59 will be flown over a handful of U.S. cities, whose residents will then be surveyed about the disruptiveness of the noise produced by the aircraft.

“The idea of lifting the ban on supersonic flight over land is really exciting,” said Catherine Bahm, manager of NASA’s Low Boom Flight Demonstrator project, in a NASA release. “And that’s the future the X-59 could enable.”

An artist's depiction of the X-59 in flight.
An artist's depiction of the X-59 in flight.


An artist’s depiction of the X-59 in flight.

If everything is pulled off without a hitch, and the sonic thumps are deemed unobtrusive by the public, regulators may loosen restrictions on commercial supersonic flight over land. It would still be years after that until such flights could be routine; David Richardson, an engineer at Lockheed Martin and the X-59 program director, told CBS News that 2035 is a realistic ballpark for commercial supersonic flights over land.

More: NASA’s Experimental Electric Airplane Edges Closer to Its First Flight

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