Nasa's newly built X-59 jet set for first supersonic flight without the sonic boom

A radical aircraft design is about to attempt something aviation has struggled with for decades, and it could change how we fly forever.

In Short

• Nasa's X-59 aims to eliminate loud sonic booms on supersonic flights
• X-59's first supersonic flight planned for summer at Mach 1.4
• Could enable fast commercial flights like Mumbai to London under 5 hours

In the history of aviation, flying faster than sound has come with an unavoidable downside, which is a thunderous sonic boom that rattles windows and startles entire neighbourhoods on the ground.

Nasa might have found a way around that and the space agency is about to put it to the test.

The X-59, a sleek experimental aircraft built by Lockheed Martin for Nasa, is preparing for its first supersonic flight this summer, potentially marking a milestone that could reshape the future of commercial air travel.

WHAT IS SUPERSONIC AND WHY IS IT PROBLEMATIC?

Sound travels through air at roughly 1,235 kmph.

When an aircraft crosses that threshold, it compresses air in front of it into a powerful shockwave, called the sonic boom. It's a sharp explosive bang that reaches the ground below like a clap of thunder. That noise was the reason supersonic passenger travel over land was effectively banned decades ago, grounding ambitions of routine high-speed commercial flights.

But now, Nasa could revive that possibility.

Nasa's X-59, which stretches about 30 metres from tip to tail, was specifically designed to solve the issue of sonic booms.

The jet's most distinctive feature is an extraordinarily long, needle-like nose, and its sleek design that helps gradually disperse the shockwaves before they can merge into a single loud bang.

The result, Nasa expects, will be a soft "thump" rather than a boom, roughly as loud as the distant sound of a car door closing.

"What comes next is the first time this one-of-a-kind aircraft will fly supersonic," said Cathy Bahm, Nasa's project manager for the programme. "We are starting toward the mission conditions test point that X-59 was designed for."

IS X-59 READY?

The aircraft made its very first flight in October 2025 and has since completed 15 test flights, each one pushing a little further.

In its most recent flights, the X-59 climbed to altitudes of up to 43,000 feet and reached speeds of around 1,009 kmph, just touching the edge of supersonic territory but not yet crossing it.

This summer's planned supersonic flights will change that.

The immediate target is Mach 1.4, or approximately 1,489 kmph, at an altitude of about 55,000 feet. Those numbers, including both the speed and height, are precisely what the X-59 was specifically engineered to operate at.

Beyond that, Nasa also plans to eventually push the aircraft to its maximum design speed of Mach 1.6, or roughly 1,960 kmph, at 60,000 feet.

WHAT IF SUPERSONIC FLIGHT WORKS?

A successful flight will be only the beginning.

If the X-59 proves that supersonic travel over land can be genuinely noise-free, Nasa plans to fly it over populated areas in the United States and survey residents about what they actually heard.

That data will then be handed to aviation regulators worldwide, potentially opening the door to a new generation of commercial aircraft capable of flying from Mumbai to London in under five hours, without waking anyone up along the way.

- Ends