Supersonic air travel promises to take us around the world faster, but it has one big, major drawback: the sonic boom. Supersonic planes are not allowed to fly above ground because the noise they create is loud and destructive. NASA has been working for decades to develop an aircraft that could avoid this while traveling at incredible speeds. The result is X-59.

The experimental aircraft, developed in collaboration with Lockheed Martin, is expected to reach 1.4 times the speed of sound in air, or approximately 1,490 kilometers (925 miles) per hour, and it achieves this by remaining very quiet. It was announced last Friday and will be tested in real flight later this year.

What is Sonic Boom and how is it created?

A sonic boom is a thunder-like sound produced by an object moving through air faster than (in this case) the speed of sound. This is a huge release of sound energy and that’s why it’s loud.

Only private planes cannot be hacked. A bull’s characteristic crack is an example of a vocal roar. The tip of the whip is very small because it does not have the same jet moment.

Any object moving through a liquid will create pressure waves in front and behind the liquid. Waves travel at the speed of sound. As the speed of the plane increases, these waves merge, and when the plane reaches the speed of sound, they combine into a single shock wave. Boom!

As the plane moves faster than the speed of sound, it releases these pressure waves, constantly creating sonic booms. But as you can imagine, if you live under the path of a supersonic jet, it can be quite loud and annoying.

How does X-59 prevent sonic boom?

It is easier to avoid a sonic boom than to overcome these pressure waves. The X-59 was designed to do just that. The aircraft is 30.3 meters (99.7 ft) long, but a third of that length is in its thin, tapered nose. This is his secret. The nose was designed to break pressure waves, creating a vehicle that could fly faster than sound without loud explosions.

This experimental aircraft is not a blueprint for future supersonic passenger vehicles, but such a design would inform future supersonic aircraft, just as the Bell X-1 rocket-powered aircraft later informed the development of Concorde.