NASA's X-59 Supersonic Aircraft Receives Tail for Quesst Mission

NASA's X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology aircraft, designed to fly faster than the speed of sound without producing a loud, disruptive sonic boom, has undergone final installation of its lower empennage, or tail assembly. The X-59 will fly over communities around the United States to demonstrate this technology, but first, NASA will need to validate the X-plane’s acoustic signature, using a ground recording system. The Quesst mission has two goals: design and build NASA’s X-59 research aircraft with technology that reduces the loudness of a sonic boom to a gentle thump to people on the ground, and fly the X-59 over several U.S. communities to gather data on human responses to the sound generated during supersonic flight and deliver that data set to U.S. and international regulators.