Overview
- The experimental jet completed a planned subsonic hop on Oct. 28 from Lockheed Martin’s Palmdale site to NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center with lead test pilot Nils Larson at the controls.
- Flight testing will step up to higher altitude and speed, targeting about Mach 1.4 near 55,000 feet to quantify the aircraft’s low-boom acoustic signature.
- NASA intends to survey members of the public through 2029 to assess how communities perceive the sound during test operations.
- The one-off X-59 is designed to turn a traditional sonic boom into a “gentle thump” to generate data that could support easing the U.S. ban on routine overland supersonic flight.
- NASA has paid Lockheed Martin more than $518 million on the program since 2018, and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, serving as acting NASA administrator, praised the milestone.