Tech -- Aiming For Very Quiet Supersonic Flights: In A NASA/Lockheed Collab.

[While this may stray a bit from pure science, it feeds the boy in me (and in Dr. King, who had said as a boy, he too loved very fast jets!) so. . . we will let it be MLK "Dream" fare, today.] NASA has been working on tech that might help the world's regulators once again to approve supersonic aircraft for commercial flights.

Quite appropriately, almost 48 years ago now, the old Concorde was retired. . . in no small part as a result of the awful din of sonic booms, whenever, and wherever it flew faster than Mach 1.

This new demo-tech, in the so called X-59 flies a nearly noiseless Mach 1.1, as it minimizes the shockwaves / interference pattern behind the jet (which makes the thumpingly loud "boom" on the ground below). Here's the unveiling story, this past week at Skunkworks:

. . .At 99.7 feet long and 29.5 feet wide, the aircraft’s shape and the technological advancements it houses will make quiet supersonic flight possible. The X-59’s thin, tapered nose accounts for almost a third of its length and will break up the shock waves that would ordinarily result in a supersonic aircraft causing a sonic boom.

Due to this configuration, the cockpit is located almost halfway down the length of the aircraft – and does not have a forward-facing window. Instead, the Quesst team developed the eXternal Vision System, a series of high-resolution cameras feeding a 4K monitor in the cockpit.

The Quesst team also designed the aircraft with its engine mounted on top and gave it a smooth underside to help keep shockwaves from merging behind the aircraft and causing a sonic boom. . . .

Now you know -- stay safe and warm, one and all -- we will have been sub-zero for about 56 hours (in actual temps, and at wind-chills of below minus 20!) by the time we slip into positive territory, on Wednesday midday. The sun is shining, but it is barking cold here, to be sure. So. . . nationwide, and south of here in particular (as you may not have the gear, and/or home insulation, on piping, for example) . . . be safe!

नमस्ते