NASA's X-59 "frankenjet" tests supersonic flight without the sonic boom
摘要
美国国家航空航天局（NASA）正在测试实验性飞机X-59“Quesst”，旨在以更安静的“砰”声替代传统音爆，其音量相当于20英尺外关车门声。该飞机由洛克希德·马丁公司制造，去年底首飞，近期开始超音速测试。NASA计划未来让X-59在美国各地飞行，收集居民对新型音爆的反馈，以影响未来超音速客机设计，使其能在陆地上空飞行而不扰民。
More than two decades since the Concorde supersonic airliner last took to the skies, NASA has been flying an experimental aircraft designed to replace loud sonic booms with a quieter thump equivalent to a car door slamming shut 20 feet away. A successful NASA flight test program could influence the design of future supersonic airliners capable of flying overland routes without rattling buildings—and people’s nerves.
The Lockheed Martin X-59 Quesst—an acronym for Quiet SuperSonic Technology—first took flight late last year and recently began supersonic test flights. But unlike with many experimental “X-plane” aircraft that may never leave restricted airspace near Edwards Air Force Base in California, NASA plans to eventually take the X-59 on a tour around the United States so residents of various cities and towns can provide feedback on the quieter sonic “thumps” it produces.
“Usually an X plane is kind of bare-bones—‘cobble it together from a bunch of parts from other airplanes and just demonstrate one thing,’” said Jim “Clue” Less, a NASA test pilot and aerospace engineer, in an interview with Ars. “We need to demonstrate that one thing, but then we need a plane that's robust enough that we can fly it all over the place and gather that data.”
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