A supersonic aircraft designed to make very little noise flew for the first time this week over the Southern California desert shortly after dawn, in what could be the first step towards faster commercial flights, according to NASA.
NASA and the American weapons and aircraft manufacturer Lockheed Martin successfully tested on Tuesday an aircraft capable of traveling faster than the speed of sound.
Airplanes have been able to fly at supersonic speeds since the 1940s. The issue is that they are prohibited from conducting commercial flights over land because they produce a sonic boom that disturbs the public.
The supersonic Concorde aircraft, operated by British Airways and Air France, conducted transatlantic flights since the 1970s. However, these were stopped in 2003 after a fatal accident three years earlier reduced demand for the expensive service.
If NASA and Lockheed Martin can successfully reduce the noise, the new aircraft could cut travel time in half between places like New York City and Los Angeles, opening up a completely new air transportation industry.
The X-59 is capable of flying faster than the speed of sound with what Lockheed Martin described as just a "gentle thump." Tuesday's test flight was slower than the speed of sound and was mainly aimed at testing the structural integrity of the aircraft. Nevertheless, it was celebrated as a significant step towards widespread use of supersonic travel.
The compact 30-meter (100-foot) aircraft took off from Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Los Angeles, flew over the desert, and landed near NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center about 64 kilometers (40 miles) away.
The first aircraft to exceed the speed of sound —or 1,235 km/h (767 mph)— took off in 1947, according to NASA. But flights at that speed were banned over land in the United States shortly after in response to surveys. Residents complained that the noise reverberated through large cities, causing windows to vibrate and frightening the public.
NASA and Lockheed Martin have been working for years on a solution that would bypass the noise and lead to regulatory change, largely to make commercial supersonic travel possible within the United States.