Engineering news
Nasa has commissioned Lockheed Martin to design a quieter supersonic jet aircraft for commercial passenger usage.
The $20 million contract to develop the Quiet Supersonic Technology (QueSST) aircraft will be conducted at Nasa’s Langley Research Centre at Virginia in the US during the next 17 months.
The Lockheed Martin team, which also includes GE Aviation and wind tunnel model maker Tri Models, will develop the baseline aircraft requirements and the preliminary aircraft design. This includes specifications, supporting documentation and analytical and wind tunnel testing.
The next stage for the detailed design, building and testing of the QueSST jet will fall under a future contract competition, said Nasa.
Charles Bolden, Nasa Administrator, said: “We are working hard to make flight greener, safer and quieter – all while developing aircraft that travel faster, and building an aviation system that operates more efficiently.”
“To that end, it’s worth noting that it's been almost 70 years since Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1 as part of our predecessor agency's high speed research. Now we’re continuing that supersonic X-plane legacy with this preliminary design award for a quieter supersonic jet with an aim toward passenger flight."
The project also includes a Low Boom Flight Demonstration (LBFD) phase of the project will also include validation of community response to the new, quieter supersonic design.
The Lockheed Martin won the QueSST contract after Nasa asked industry to submit design concepts for a piloted test aircraft capable of supersonic speeds, which created a supersonic “heartbeat” instead of the disruptive boom currently associated with supersonic flight.
The project is part of Nasa’s 10 year “New Aviation Horizons” initiative which aims to develop aircraft which reduce fuel use, emissions and noise through unconventional aircraft designs.
The aircraft the initiative develops will typically be about half-scale size of a production aircraft and likely are to be piloted. Design-and-build will take several years with aircraft starting their flight campaign around 2020, depending on funding, said Nasa.