Anonymousabout 2 hours ago
NASA's X-59 experimental aircraft, built by Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works at a cost exceeding $518 million, is preparing for its first supersonic flight in early June 2026 — a milestone that could ultimately end the 53-year federal ban on overland supersonic flight. The aircraft is designed to reduce a conventional sonic boom of 105–110 PLdB to a quiet "thump" of roughly 75 PLdB, but questions remain about who validates the acoustic data, how community test sites are selected, and whether the environmental costs of a supersonic fleet can be justified.