There’s fast, and then there’s supersonic. Aircraft that hit supersonic speeds outrace the very air that they’re pushing ahead of them, and that leads to the sonic booms that everyone below the flight path can hear — and complain about. But hush, darling, there may be a way around that.
NASA and Lockheed Martin are building a new, incredibly sleek aircraft called the X-59 QueSST, which aims to take a lot of the thunder out of supersonic travel. If they can get that plane to produce a milder “sonic thump,” it’s not just an engineering feat. It could bring about a new era of high-speed air travel for all of us who aren’t fighter pilots. CNET’s Claire Reilly got an exclusive look at the X-59, which you can find right here.
That story and the accompanying video are among the in-depth features and thought-provoking commentaries that appeared on CNET this week. So, here you go. These are the stories you don’t want to miss:
With the X-59, NASA and Lockheed Martin want to do the seemingly impossible — build a jet that flies faster than the speed of sound, without the explosive boom.
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