Revealed: Meet NASA’s Experimental Ultrafast, Ultraquiet Plane, the X-59

An experimental plane that could pave the way for ultrafast supersonic flights just got its big reveal.

NASA has been quietly working on the X-59 Quesst (Quiet Supersonic Technology) for some time and now, the plane has rolled out the hangar at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in Palmdale, California. The aircraft is designed to fly faster than the speed of sound — 1.4 times faster, to be precise — without causing a sonic boom.

The aircraft was celebrated in a special ceremony broadcast live by NASA on Friday. You can watch it here.

Friday’s unveiling is a milestone in developing a jet that can fly faster than the speed of sound but not produce a sonic boom — an issue that helped doom the most well-known commercial supersonic plane, Concorde, which zoomed from New York to London in less than three hours. 

Instead of a sonic boom, the X-59 produces a gentle “sonic thump.”

Still, don’t get your hopes up of dashing from Alaska to Mississippi in a few hours: Supersonic flights are banned over many countries. For now, flights using technology derived from X-59 would likely be limited to flight routes that cross oceans. The plane has to undergo extensive testing first, however.

“The idea of lifting the ban on supersonic flight over land is really exciting,” said Catherine Bahm, manager of NASA’s Low Boom Flight Demonstrator project, which is overseeing development of the X-59 in a statement. “And that’s the future the X-59 could enable.”

NASA officials also expressed hope that X-59 technology would enable a more sustainable future for aviation, with fewer emissions contributing to climate change.

The first test flights are expected to take place later this year while flights over American cities to test its noise levels are scheduled for 2025.