Thanks to an administration and national leaders focused more on diversity and inclusion, it’s become obvious in recent years that the US has fallen behind many world nations in nearly every technological category. Thankfully, a new airplane may have just given us a very much-needed boost.
It’s called the X-59, a new supersonic jet that seeks to revolutionize travel, and it was introduced to the world on Friday.
On Friday, the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California, hosted a crowd of about 150 to show off their new creation, a partnership with NASA.
According to Space.com, one of the major revolutionary aspects of the X-59 Quesst (Quiet SuperSonic Technology) is its super elongated nose. Presumably, and as its name implies, this longer nose can transform the sound waves it creates, particularly when traveling at supersonic speeds. In other words, it will eliminate or at least quiet that supersonic boom many dislike.
Another revolutionary feature is that the aircraft doesn’t have a forward-facing window for pilots to see out of.
Instead, pilots will “see” the plane’s surroundings through a new External Vision System (XVS). According to Space.com, these images are taken from a forward line of sight camera at the nose of the plane and cast onto a wide video view screen at the front of the aircraft.
It also uses custom imaging software to “create an augmented reality view of the X-59 pilot’s forward line of sight along with graphical flight data overlays,” according to a NASA news release on their invention.
If successful, the team fully expects this to be the new way pilots fly planes and how that sometimes annoying supersonic boom is heard.
But as I mentioned, it’s a very new creation. And the plane has only just been introduced to the world. Now comes a litany of testing, including low-speed and supersonic flight tests.
With any luck, America may have just finally a success on our hands.