this post was submitted on 13 Jan 2024
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Nasa unveils quiet supersonic aircraft in effort to revive commercial flights (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 10 months ago by MicroWave to c/science
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In launch event on Friday, agency shared plans to test over US cities to see if it’s quiet enough by engaging ‘the people below’

Nasa has unveiled a one-of-a-kind quiet supersonic aircraft as part of the US space agency’s mission to make commercial supersonic flight possible.

In a joint ceremony with Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in Palmdale, California, on Friday, Nasa revealed the X-59, an experimental aircraft that is expected to fly at 1.4 times the speed of sound – or 925mph (1,488 km/h).

The aircraft, which stands at 99.7ft (30.4 metres) long and 29.5ft wide, has a thin, tapered nose that comprises nearly a third of the aircraft’s full length – a feature designed to disperse shock waves that would typically surround supersonic aircraft and result in sonic booms.

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[–] [email protected] 39 points 10 months ago (5 children)

pretty neat that the image of the plane for the article is shot from so close that you can only see 1/3 of it, but to be fair it does include the screens of people's phones as they take a picture of the thing. kind of like going to a concert.

[–] Nudding 9 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Haha I wonder about the ungodly amount of fuel it burns.

[–] curiousPJ 9 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)
[–] Nudding 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Old news now. The evil in the hearts of humans will be our collective undoing.

[–] greedytacothief 2 points 10 months ago

I'm not so sure it's their hearts, those are full of blood. It's more like a system that incentivises people to make immortal decisions for profit.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago

The website blasted me in the ass with ads, while simultaneously begging for donations

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Yeah but with the pictures on the phones, we actually end up with more picture per picture with this method.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

Yo dawg, I heard you like pictures

[–] XeroxCool 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

It's proportions make it hard to frame it for an article headline picture. This is cropped to show a colorful array of the fun parts: cockpit, landing gear engine intake with a clear X-59. It's like trying to make a cover picture feature a pencil.

This other article uses a dramatic background to fill the space. It's from NASA though, so they're not limited to the conference. They don't have to have their own picture to say "I was there"

https://kbin.social/m/[email protected]/t/758938