NASA engineers test-fired the engine on the X-59 supersonic research aircraft in advance of planned test flights to determine if the aircraft can reduce sonic booms and make supersonic flights over land quieter.
The X-59 team is conducting the engine-run tests in phases, NASA said Nov. 6 in a news release.
In the first phase, the engine rotated at a relatively low speed without ignition to check for leaks and ensure all systems are communicating properly. The team then fueled the aircraft and began testing the engine at low power, with the goal of verifying that it and other aircraft systems operate without anomalies or leaks while on engine power.
"The first phase of the engine tests was really a warmup to make sure that everything looked good prior to running the engine," Jay Brandon, NASA's X-59 chief engineer, said in the news release.
"Then we moved to the actual first engine start. That took the engine out of the preservation mode that it had been in since installation on the aircraft. It was the first check to see that it was operating properly and that all the systems it impacted — hydraulics, electrical system, environmental control systems, etc. — seemed to be working."
The X-59 will generate a quieter thump instead of a loud boom while flying faster than the speed of sound, NASA said. The aircraft is the centerpiece of NASA's Quesst mission, which began in 2014 and will gather data on how people perceive such thumps, providing regulators with information that could help lift current bans on commercial supersonic flights over land.
The single-engine aircraft that Lockheed Martin designed and built has a long, needle-like nose with no windshield because the pilot is unable to see what is below the nose, which accounts for 38 feet of the aircraft's length of 99.7 feet. An External Vision System using forward-facing cameras linked to cockpit displays will enable the pilot to safely fly the aircraft. The aircraft's delta-shaped wings give it a wingspan of 29.5 feet.
General Electric Aviation designed and built the engine, a modified F414-GE-100 that packs 22,000 pounds of thrust and will enable the X-59 to achieve the desired cruising speed of Mach 1.4 (925mph) at an altitude of approximately 55,000 feet, NASA said. It sits in a nontraditional spot — atop the aircraft — to aid in making the aircraft quieter.
The testing is taking place at Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California. During later phases, the aircraft will be tested at high power with rapid throttle changes, followed by simulating the conditions of an actual flight, NASA said.
"The success of these runs will be the start of the culmination of the last eight years of my career," Paul Dees, NASA's deputy propulsion lead for the X-59, said in the new release.
"This isn't the end of the excitement but a small steppingstone to the beginning. It's like the first note of a symphony, where years of teamwork behind the scenes are now being put to the test to prove our efforts have been effective, and the notes will continue to play a harmonious song to flight."
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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