The Federal Aviation Administration has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to establish noise certification requirements for takeoff and landing of civil supersonic aircraft platforms.
A 90-day public comment period will commence on the date of publication of the proposal in the Federal Register, FAA said Monday.
The agency unveiled the NPRM nine months after it proposed to modernize the process of requesting special flight authorizations to fly aircraft at a speed above Mach 1.
FAA also works with the Department of Transportation in efforts to advance supersonic aircraft development and expects the new rulemaking activity to help the agency determine technological and economic factors that will support noise level requirements for such vehicle.
The agency pointed to the availability of new engines and materials designed to address noise from the airframe as technical advancements that have occurred in the aviation field since the Concorde supersonic passenger airplane took flight in the 1970s.
Lockheed Martin is manufacturing the X-59 Quiet Supersonic Technology platform at a company facility located in Palmdale, Calif., as part of a $247.5M contract NASA awarded in 2018.
The company aims to conduct initial test flights in 2021.