Many people forget this, but NASA’s first “A” is for “Aeronautics.”

The Agency’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) operates at a fraction of the budget as the space portion of NASA. Still, like the space side of the Agency, it does some pretty spectacular research. From winglets on commercial aircraft that save fuel to the X-15 — the first aircraft to reach the edge of space, ARMD has created incredible knowledge and value throughout its existence.

ARMD’s Newest Aircraft

One of the latest things that ARMD has done is build the X-59 supersonic aircraft, designed to be quieter than previous birds built to fly faster than sound (761 mph, or 1100 feet/second at sea level.)

“Looks Pretty, Flies Pretty”

Old aviator adage

According to them, “the X-59 was built to demonstrate the ability to fly supersonic, or faster than the speed of sound, while reducing the typically loud sonic boom produced by aircraft at such speeds to a quieter sonic “thump”. That sound is a familiar one to residents of the Space Coast: SpaceX Falcon 9 boosters returning to Cape Canaveral create a sonic boom to announce their arrival, and before that, the Space Shuttle did the same.

NASA ARMD have also made it clear that X-59 is an experimental, one of a kind plane that is designed to be an information gathering platform rather than serve as a prototype.

For more information and photos of the X-59: NASA Unveils the X-59 Supersonic Test Aircraft.

New Photos

ARMD and Lockheed-Martin recently released some new photos of X-59. Click on the tile to see in full size.

Its first flight is scheduled for sometime this year.