Nasa and Lockheed Martin company are developing a new generation of commercial aircraft called X-Plane able to travel at supersonic speeds without a full sonic boom, making it safer to nearby people and structures. It will be able to travel from New York city to Los Angeles in 2 hours.
"This is a purpose-built experimental research aircraft." Dave Richardson (director for air vehicle designs in Lochheed Martin)
Lockheed Martin is building this experimental aircraft that can fly at altitude of 55000 feet and cruse at a speed of 940 mph without generating a loud sonic Boom.
The agency wants the plane to generate a sound of up to 75 perceived level decibel (PLdB). The plane form will reduce the boom to a sound of a car doors closing. This is a very interesting feature because for now the supersonic flights are prohibited on the land. Indeed, the boom produced at this speed create a powerful wave that can weaken buildings.
This is very import because if you think about the Concorde which was a British-French turbojet-powered supersonic passenger airliner that was operated until 2003. Due to its noise when breaking the sound barrier, flights was limited for ocean-crossing traveling.
Their contract ends in December 2021 after Nasa perform several tests, to test the sound perturbation. They want to use the data to evaluate the possibility to use supersonic plane on land for airliner.
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