Lockheed Martin X-59 Quesst

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The Lockheed Martin X-59 Quesst ("Quiet SuperSonic Technology"), sometimes styled QueSST, is an American experimental supersonic aircraft under development by Lockheed Martin for NASA's Low-Boom Flight Demonstrator project, evaluating the possibility of supersonic flight without the drawback of loud sonic booms. Preliminary design started in February 2016, with the X-59 originally planned to begin flight testing in 2021. After repeated delays, it began flight testing in late October 2025. It is expected to cruise at Mach 1.42 (1,510 km/h; 937 mph) at an altitude of 55,000 ft (16,800 m). It is designed to create only a low 75 effective perceived noise level (EPNdB) thump to re-evaluate the viability of supersonic transport, since their extremely loud sonic booms were one of the main reasons previous supersonic aircraft such as the Concorde were retired.

Read on Wikipedia · Image NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center / NASA/Lori Losey, Public domain