NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft has passed flight readiness review, paving the way for the aircraft to transition to the airworthiness and flight safety review phase.
Independent experts from NASA completed a study of the X-59 project team’s approach to public safety during ground and flight testing and examined the team’s analysis of possible risks and hazards, the agency said Wednesday.
“The Flight Readiness Review focused on specific aspects of the X-59 team’s work on the aircraft, but also served as an overview and update on the entire project,” said Jay Brandon, chief engineer for the Low Boom Flight Demonstrator project.
X-59 is being built by Lockheed Martin‘s Skunk Works subsidiary for NASA’s Quesst experimental mission, which aims to demonstrate technology that can travel faster than the speed of sound while reducing the loudness of a sonic boom to a quiet thump.
For the next phase, the Airworthiness and Flight Safety Review Board will review findings from the flight readiness review and send a recommendation to the director of Armstrong Flight Research Center for airworthiness approval.