Nasa's super-fast plane gets ready for test flight

Nasa is getting ready to flight test its one-of-a-kind speedy jet called the X-59.

The aircraft is designed to fly at supersonic speeds - up to approximately 925 mph - which means going faster than the speed of sound.

When you go that fast it can cause a loud sonic boom that sounds like a clap of thunder which can be heard on the ground.

This new plane aims to reduce this to more of a quiet thump than a loud boom.

The jet is part of the US space agency's mission to find a way for ordinary jet travel around Earth to become much, much faster.

It's so fast that it is estimated the X-59 could fly from London to New York in around three hours and 44 minutes, whereas commercial flights normally take seven to eight hours.

What is Nasa's X-59 aircraft?

Nasa and aircraft maker Lockheed Martin officially revealed the X-59 in Jan 2024 at a ceremony in California, on the west coast of America.

The X-59 is part of Nasa's mission called Quesst which hopes to demonstrate technology to fly supersonic, or faster than the speed of sound, without generating loud sonic booms.

That sound barrier speed, known as Mach 1, is approximately 767 miles an hour, or 343 metres per second.

Nasa have been testing the X-59 as part of the Quesst mission

Supersonic flights aren't usually allowed over land - except for military jets - because of the disturbance that can be caused by loud, startling sonic booms when jets break the sound barrier.

Nasa is hoping to make the booms quieter and convince authorities to allow supersonic flights over land.

The Space Agency says it will survey how people respond when the X-59 flies overhead, sharing these reactions and data to the quieter sonic "thumps" with national and international officials to see what the acceptable noise levels are relating to supersonic commercial flight over land.

The X-59 is over 30 metres long and a big part of that is its giant nose, which takes up a third of its whole length.

In order to make it fly even faster, designers have put the cockpit almost halfway down the plane and have also got rid of the forward-facing windows you normally see in planes (and cars).

Instead, pilots will see what is ahead of them using a screen in the cockpit.

Nasa says the first flight will be a lower-altitude loop at about 240 mph to check all the systems are safe and working properly.

Once that's completed, future test flights will see the X-59 will go higher and faster, eventually going faster than the speed of sound.

What is a sonic boom?

A sonic boom is a deep, thunder-like noise that can be felt as a sudden jolt or vibration, as well as heard.

It's often described as sounding like a loud explosion.

When any plane flies, it creates sound waves - from things like engine noise and air friction.

Sound waves travel at about 750mph, but once the plane goes faster than the waves do, the waves bunch up and combine to form a shock wave or a sonic boom.

What about Concorde?

There has been a famous supersonic passenger jet before - called Concorde.

It's first flight was on 2 March 1969 and it's last flight was on 24 October 2003 and it changed the way people thought about travel forever.

Concorde could reach a maximum speed of 1,354 miles per hour - even faster than X-59 - but it was only allowed to go so fast over the sea, not over land where people lived, due to the sonic boom.

Only 20 were ever made and flying in it was very expensive - both for tickets and for fuel.

Since the service stopped running, aircraft makers have tried to find a more economonical and ear-friendly way to do it.