NASA Packs X-59 Supersonic Plane With New Powerful Engine

Photo Credit: NASA

NASA’s X-59 supersonic plane is slowly inching closer to its flight demonstration. The supersonic plane for the space agency’s Quesst mission has now received an upgrade in the form of a 13-foot-long engine, as per NASA’s recent announcement.

This hardware is very crucial for the rocket as it will provide 22,000 pounds of thrust and fire up the X-59 to pierce through the air faster than the speed of sound. NASA hopes the data collected during its flight, scheduled for sometime in 2025, will prove that its new supersonic tech will produce a sonic boom.

Whopping Speeds Of Up To Mach 1.4

Regulators will then have to take a call about how fast a plane can be allowed to fly over land, and perhaps use the tech for future applications of commercial flights to cut down travel times significantly, as per the space agency.

The X-59’s new engine has been developed by General Electric Aviation, a subsidiary of General Electric. As per a November 14 update from NASA, the engine is capable of delivering up to Mach 1.4 and altitudes close to 55,000 feet.

"Through Quesst, NASA plans to demonstrate that the X-59 can fly faster than sound without generating the loud sonic booms supersonic aircraft typically produce. This thunderous sound is the reason the U.S. and other governments banned most supersonic flight over land," NASA's official mission description reads.

Mission Quesst On Its Way

As of now, NASA’s Quesst mission is in its initial phase, focused on assembly. The rocket was installed on the rocket at Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California a few days ago.

"The engine installation is the culmination of years of design and planning by the NASA, Lockheed Martin, and General Electric Aviation teams," said Ray Castner, NASA’s propulsion performance lead for the X-59. "I am both impressed with and proud of this combined team that’s spent the past few months developing the key procedures, which allowed for a smooth installation."

The Quesst mission is scheduled to end in 2027, when the data extracted during the flight across yet-to-be-announced US communities is sent to regulators in the country and globally, as per NASA.