Gallery: X-59 Progress & Development

Barbara Nichols January 26, 2022

Lockheed To Build NASA’s Low-Boom Supersonic X-Plane (April 04, 2018)

Uniquely positioned after completing a preliminary design for NASA, Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works was the only bidder to build the low-boom flight demonstrator, but NASA praises the quality of its bid.

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Credit: NASA/Lockheed Martin

NASA Lays Out Plans for Low-Boom X-59 (The Week In Technology, July 2-6, 2018)

Low-boom X-59A QueSST will join the electric-propulsion X-57 Maxwell in NASA's X-plane fleet.

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Credit: NASA

NASA To Use X-59A QueSST Demonstrator To Seek Acceptance Of Low Booms (July 20, 2018)

NASA has laid out a three-phase program to collect data on public acceptance of reduced sonic booms using the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works-developed low-boom demonstrator, which has been designated the X-59A QueSST.

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Lockheed Cuts Metal on NASA’s Low-Boom X-59 (The Week In Technology, Nov. 26-30, 2018)

Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works has cut metal on the X-59 QueSST, beginning manufacture of the first part for NASA’s low-boom flight demonstrator. The single-seat, single-engine experimental aircraft is scheduled to fly in 2021.  The X-59 is being built to collect community response data on the public acceptability of reduced sonic booms. The data will be used by U.S. and international authorities to determine whether a boom standard can be set that will enable lifting of the prohibition on civil supersonic flight over land. X-59 QueSST is scheduled to conduct envelope-expansion flight testing at the NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center beginning in 2021. Read the full story. Credit: NASA 

Collins To Supply Flight Deck For NASA’s Low-Boom X-59 (January 17, 2019)

Collins, a unit of United Technologies created in late 2018 by the merger of avionics maker Rockwell Collins and equipment supplier United Technologies Aerospace Systems, will provide flight-deck avionics and an enhanced vision system.

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Credit: NASA

NASA’s External Vision System Is Ready For Low-Boom Supersonic X-59 (June 18, 2019)

Cockpit configuration of the new NASA low-boom supersonic X-plane as it enters assembly phase. Evaluation flights have been completed on an electric forward-facing window that will allow the pilot to fly the supersonic X-59 safely. Credit: Lockheed Martin/NASA

Lockheed Martin Begins Assembly Of X-59 Low-Boom Demonstrator (June 18, 2019)

The cockpit will be dominated by the large upper XVS conformal display and twin Collins Pro Line Fusion displays.

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Credit: Lockheed Martin

Pilots To Get Used To Not Having A Forward Window - Use Displays Instead (June 18, 2019)

Lockheed Martin's X-59 cockpit mockup is set to become the systems integration lab with Collins Aerospace and NASA-provided equipment.

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Credit: Lockheed Martin

Buildup Of First Composite Skin Panels Began On The Skunk Works’ Large Fiber-Placement Machines (June 18, 2019)

First spars in the jig emphasize the pronounced gulling of the inboard wing for low boom.

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Credit: Lockheed Martin

Visibilty Is Essential (September 23, 2019)

The length of the X-59’s nose is 50 ft. from the pilot’s reference eyepoint to the tip. More than half the X-59's length is forward of the pilot's eyepoint, blocking forward visibility in all phases of flight.

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Credit: Lockheed Martin

XVS Comprises A 4k-resolution Color Camera Mounted On X-59’s Nose (September 23, 2019)

Where the XVS cannot see through clouds, enhanced-vision sensor imagery in the lower slice penetrates to show terrain.

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Credit: Graham Warwick/AW&ST

XVS Head-Up-Display Image Superimposed On Pilot’s View Through Electronic Forward-Facing Window (September 23, 2019)

The target aircraft is visible on the XVS display just outside the diamond indicating its ADS-B position. The monochrome slice is FVS.

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Credit: Graham Warwick/AW&ST

Pilots Evaluating NASA’s External Vision System For X-59 (August 28, 2019)

Credit: Lockheed Martin
Artist's concept of X-59.

NASA Tests Techniques For X-59 Low-Boom Flights (May 26, 2021)

Validating the quiet supersonic performance of NASA’s X-59 QueSST low-boom flight demonstrator will require precise measurement of the shock waves generated by the aircraft and how they propagate through the atmosphere to the ground. This photograph shows NASA F-15 pilots used the Aligns software and tablet to position precisely in the shock wave from an F/A-18.

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Credit: NASA

X-59A Makes Progress, Faces Challenges, NASA IG Says (May 12, 2020)

General Electric has shipped the first F414-100 engine to Lockheed Martin Skunk Works to power NASA’s X-59A QueSST low-boom supersonic flight demonstrator as an audit says the project is making progress but faces cost and schedule challenges. NASA’s X-59 will gather data on community responses to reduced sonic booms.

Credit: Lockheed Martin

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X-59 Structural Trials Will Pave Way For Upcoming Flight Tests (January 21, 2022)

X-59 undergoes proof tests in Texas ahead of first flight in California later in 2022.

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Credit: Lockheed Martin

Structural Proof Tests Of The X-59 Low-Boom Supersonic Demonstrator At Fort Worth Facility (January 21, 2022)

The 76-deg. sweep of the X-59’s sharply angled wing is evident in this image taken before the aircraft was shipped from Skunk Works.

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Credit: Lockheed Martin

The X-59 is in its first stage of development with test flights planned to begin this year. If the flight test phase is successful, NASA is scheduled to take delivery of the aircraft from Lockheed Martin in 2023. This gallery highlights concept images, a flight deck configuration, and its structural phase at the Fort Worth Facility. 

 

 

Barbara Nichols

Barbara has freelanced for Aviation Week Network since 2015 which has included extensive work on our centenary project, daily newsletters, AC-U-KWIK…

Comments

1 Comment
Kurt
Tue, 01/25/2022 - 13:52
Hilarious. I've never seen a shrink wrapped airplane. :-)
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