Page 3 - Aerotech News and Review, February 18, 2022

Lockheed Martin photograph
This panoramic side view of NASA’s X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology airplane shows the aircraft sitting on jacks at a Lockheed Martin test facility in Fort Worth, Texas.
NASA’s X-59 calls on Texas for key testing

by Jim Banke wing, main body, tail, and nose — The company’s Fort Worth facility during landing – among others. and the whole thing goes into a safe
NASA were assembled and power could be is where the F-16 Fighting Falcon was Since the airplane isn’t actually position,” Silva said.
turned on to the vehicle for the first built for many years. Test equipment flying, tests are done with the aircraft The second goal is to calibrate the
It appears the road to enabling a time. still available needed some modifi- sitting on hydraulic jacks that are sensors built into the X-59 that are
future that includes convenient com- The next major task was to make cations to handle the X-59’s longer connected directly with the structure. designed to tell the pilot how much
mercial supersonic air travel over land sure the airplane structure wouldn’t nose compared to the F-16, but those Arms that press down on areas of the stress is being measured at that point
demands a substantial pit stop in Fort break apart in flight when exposed to changes didn’t get in the way. airplane, such as the top of the wing, on the airplane. This is done by com-
Worth, Texas. stresses small and extreme. “Our folks in Fort Worth were able also are used. paring what the sensors say with the
Who knew? Mike Buonanno, a Lockheed Mar- to hit the ground running from the mo- How much stress is too much? Bu- known amount of stress being applied
Aeronautical innovators at NASA tin aerospace engineer who is the ment the airplane arrived from Palm- onanno explained the loads applied to during a test.
and Lockheed Martin did. They have company’s vehicle lead for the X-59, dale,” Buonanno said. the X-59 are 25 percent greater than “The third goal is to take the data
long planned for this milestone in as- explained why wrapping up the X-59 any load the airplane was designed to and compare it with the computer
sembling and testing the X-59 Quiet and shipping it by truck to Texas in Feeling the Pressure ever see in actual flight. models we used in designing the air-
SuperSonic Technology (QueSST) late December was the best way to NASA has three goals for the Because the X-59 isn’t a proto- plane in the first place and make sure
airplane. prove that. X-59’s stay in Texas in terms of the type for a series of aircraft, none what we thought was going to happen
Although the X-59 QueSST is be- “Our Texas site has existing facili- structural proof tests. of the tests are designed to see how turned out to be accurate and the air-
ing built by Lockheed Martin at their ties to perform the kinds of tests need- “The first goal is to make sure that much stress a part could take before it plane is built as designed,” Silva said.
Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, Ca- ed. It would have been expensive and the airplane can handle the anticipated breaks. This type of “test to destruct” As of the last week of January about
lif., the airplane needed to be moved time consuming to design and build loads during flight,” Silva said. is seen only in large production runs 80 percent of the structural tests were
to another Lockheed facility in Texas them from scratch in Palmdale. But Loads, in this case, mean any- where one airplane can be pulled away completed, and all is well.
for a series of important structural in Fort Worth they’ve got the perfect thing that would put pressure or and sacrificed. “Everything is passing with fly-
tests before returning it to the West facility with a full control room and stress on the aircraft’s structure. “In any case, there are all sorts of ing colors, and nothing is bending in
Coast. all the support equipment needed to Typically, these kinds of stresses safety features built into the testing so a way we didn’t expect,” Buonanno
But let’s back up a bit. do those tests very efficiently,” Buon- come when the airplane experiences that if anything we don’t want hap- said.
NASA’s X-59 is a one-of-a-kind anno said. rough air, makes quick turns, and pening is detected everything shuts off
airplane designed to fly at supersonic Still ahead
speeds without making annoying, if Once all the structural tests are
not alarming, sonic booms below. complete, the team — which includes
Instead, because of its unique NASA and Lockheed Martin repre-
shape, the X-59 is expected to produce sentatives from Palmdale — will turn
quieter sonic “thumps” that can barely
their attention to performing fuel tank
be heard on the ground — if at all. calibration tests.
Current rules prohibit aircraft from
flying faster than the speed of sound The X-59’s gas tanks will be filled,
over land. Those rules are based on and fuel-remaining sensors inside will
noise, not speed. If the X-59 can pub- be checked, not only with the airplane
licly demonstrate that a plane can fly sitting level but with it pitched and
supersonic at an acceptable noise lev- rolled.
el, then those rules could be changed. When that work is completed, the
If that happens, NASA technology X-59 will be returned to Palmdale.
from the X-59 could be applied to new The exact timing of that return re-
aircraft designs so commercial airlines mains unknown for now.
might introduce faster-than-sound “We will be in Fort Worth as long
flights capable of speeding people as we need to be there, until we think
coast-to-coast in half the time. the data is good, and everything has
“That’s what we’re all working so been performed to everyone’s satis-
hard to make possible,” said Walter faction.” Silva said.
Silva, a senior research scientist at Once back in Palmdale, the X-59
NASA’s Langley Research Center in will see the rest of its major systems
Virginia. He is also NASA’s struc- and subsystems installed — its GE en-
tures lead for the X-59, so he is di- gine, landing gear, cockpit displays,
rectly involved in the airplane’s Texas etc. — with the hope of having it
visit. ready for first flight late this year.
OK, so what’s happening in Texas? Lockheed Martin photograph When that happens, the world’s
Construction of the X-59 in Califor- NASA’s X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology airplane undergoes structural stress tests at a Lockheed Martin facility in focus will be on the California High
nia had made enough progress where Fort Worth, Texas. Desert where once again aviation his-
all the major structural pieces — the tory will be made.

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