The X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology, or QueSST, wing assembly is lifted by a crane and moved to another area of the manufacturing floor in preparation for wing skin installation. The aircraft is under construction at Lockheed Martin in Palmdale, California, and will fly for the first time in 2021.
Currently, commercial planes aren’t allowed to fly faster than the speed of sound over land because they would create sonic booms which are very loud and disruptive to humans and animals. The X-59 is an experimental aircraft that will eventually lead to supersonic commercial aircraft that will travel much faster than current subsonic commercial aircraft, saving people time in the air.
Image Credit: Lockheed Martin
Image and info via NASA
Scents of Science 
April 17, 2020 at 3:48 am
Flying an aircraft with zero forward visibility, using only a video from a camera, sounds so scary.
But, Lindbergh did it just using a periscope in 1927, so I guess it has a reasonable history. Still, yikes.
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April 20, 2020 at 9:42 am
I like the adrenaline, sounds pretty cool.
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