10 mo. ago • 97%

NASA, Lockheed Martin Reveal X-59 Quiet Supersonic Aircraft

www.nasa.gov NASA, Lockheed Martin Reveal X-59 Quiet Supersonic Aircraft - NASA

NASA and Lockheed Martin formally debuted the agency’s X-59 quiet supersonic aircraft Friday. Using this one-of-a-kind experimental airplane, NASA aims to

90 comments

Looks like 1950s retro futurism version of a jet

51
- In the future people will even be able to play chess with someone across the world, and even order a pizza to their door on the telephone.
  
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  and even order a pizza to their door on the telephone.
  
  While living on the moon. (50s futurists aimed high.)
  
  22
You can't fool me. That's an H type Nubian yacht from star wars.

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- What’s a Nubian?
  
  4
  
  Shut the fuck up! Now Vader, he's a spiritual brother, with the force and all that shit. Then this cracker Skywalker gets his hands on a lightsaber, and the boy decides he's goinna run the fucking universe - gets a whole Klan of whites together, and they're gonna bust up Vader's 'hood - the Death Star. Now what the fuck do you call that?
  
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If they are taking about an "X-59" it's because the classified tests on the "X-109" went well.

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- What is the X-109?
  
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  It's classified.
  
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"NASA aims to gather data that could revolutionize air travel, paving the way for a new generation of commercial aircraft that can travel faster than the speed of sound."

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- I think that is definitely just a cover because they don't want to admit they're actually developing supersonic stealth planes for the military.
  
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  I think that is definitely just a cover because they don't want to admit ~~they're~~ they've actually ~~developing~~ developed supersonic stealth planes for the military.
  
  Ftfy
  
  What they reveal openly is usually from years ago. A couple aerospace friends are always like "yea, we heard scuttlebut about that about 5 years ago, so that means it was already a thing 10 years ago*, haha.
  
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  Well hiding the giant boom is probably a good stepping stone to that so yeah
  
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  From the eyewitness accounts of whistle blowers, traditional propulsion and modern propulsion are old tech compared to what they have today. Silent and extremely fast already exists.
  
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This appears to be designed for taking out zeppelins

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Looks like something you will see in Ace Combat.

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Guys, check out the cockpit.

I know technology is wildly advanced and he probably has a 360 view now, but other than test pilots, who are you going to get to fly a plane that lacks a forward view?

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- One of the material issues with supersonic is friction heat buildup. Probably can't have a front windshield at that speed.
  
  Cameras and instrumentation will do just fine tho
  
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  The heat is from compression, not friction. And besides that, this thing is only flying at mach 1.5, there are TONS of aircraft that fly at those speeds (and much faster) with windshields.
  
  The reason it doesn't have a front windshield is because the change in shape of the aircraft at the windshield, to be more vertical, was disrupting their method of reducing the sonic boom. The aircraft needs the shape it has, so a windshield would have to be like 20 feet long to offer any forward visibility.
  
  10
- With that huge honker of a nose, it’s not like you’d see much anyway. Entire cities could hide behind that
  
  12
- Looks like there's a forward facing camera.
  
  9
- but other than test pilots, who are you going to get to fly a plane that lacks a forward view?
  
  This plane will only be flown by test pilots. Its a technology demonstrator. Researchers build one of these to test concepts in physics in the real world.
  
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- No instruments, just a microphone to talk to ChatGPT.
  
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  Basically Stealth IRL.
  
  BTW, fucking coolest, most underrated movie ever IMO
  
  1
- With that speed you aren't able to react to anything visible in the flightpath anyway 💨
  
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  It's not supersonic during landing or taxing, which I guess is when a direct view would be more useful.
  
  1
- You know planes fly at night yeah, when you can't see things
  
  1
  
  Oh of course. Landing might not be fun though.
  
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- laughs in P-51 mustang
  
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“Across both teams, talented, dedicated, and passionate scientists, engineers, and production artisans have collaborated to develop and produce this aircraft,” said John Clark, vice president and general manager at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works.

What the hell is a production artisan?

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- Someone with the skills and knowledge to "manually" produce some of the many one-off parts that went into this prototype.
  
  The scientists and engineers may know what kind of part is needed, but it takes a different skillset to produce it.
  
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  So like the welders for the Russian rocket engines that were produced 50 years ago? Seems those welds are something we aren't sure how they did it.
  
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- Individuals that sell billion dollar paintings to the Pentagon.
  
  -4
  
  Lol, people with no sense of humor downvoting you.
  
  1
Flying hypodermic needle.

10
Define quiet....

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- The Sonic Boom will sound more like your neighbours car door closing than an explosion
  
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  Even regular planes have negative effects on the neighborhoods they take off and land over. This is definitely going to be worse.
  
  I'll only believe the "low noise" PR if it flies supersonic directly over Malibu or the Hamptons and Nantucket.
  
  1
  
  A sonic thump could still be very disturbing. Maybe not break windows, but induce panic I a lot of people.
  
  -7
  
  Maybe we just have different ideas of what quiet is...
  
  -16
- https://youtu.be/2jAH-51feAA
  
  7
  
  Great video. Thanks for sharing.
  
  3
  
  Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
  
  https://piped.video/2jAH-51feAA
  
  Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
  
  I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.
  
  1
But does the snoot droop

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Yep. Yes. Ahuh... According to my notes this is what we needed...

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Reminds me of a pterosaur somehow.

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- Considering that splitting supersonic shockwaves in the air is kind of analogous to splitting the water when plunge-diving for fish (which at least some pterosaurids are hypothesized to have done), that makes sense.
  
  10
- Maybe their ability to go to the bathroom without making any noise was the inspiration?
  
  2
How about survey what the birds think?

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- "Ooh Yeh"
  
  Bird commenting on X-59 project
  
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It’s like a blind Pinocchio flying at the speed of sound controlled by a touch screen. 2024, ladies and gents.

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- What an ignorant statement...
  
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  It was a joke.
  
  But no, I don't believe it's controlled with a touch screen. Though it is "daring" shall we say... to make a plane with no cockpit windows.
  
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- You don’t need any aeronautical experience to fly it, but you need a 28” waist.
  
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Imagine dying because you got shish kabobbed by that thing.

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- My great uncle said he hoped for a quiet death.
  
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There is zero need to revive SSTs. We need to focus on slow transport using renewable energy.

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- NASA isn’t here to build trains, they exist to push the boundaries of aerospace which is what this is
  
  36
- You can use sailboats if you want, no one is stopping you
  
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- Using SAF especially e fuels it could actually turn out to be a very environmentally sustainable mode of transport for long flights.
  
  Plus if people flew to a sustainable resorts rather than take a cruse for example it'd be far better.
  
  3

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