NASA, Lockheed Martin Begin Construction of Quiet Supersonic Aircraft Written 21 September 2020
Illustration of the X-59 QueSST as it flies above NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center in California. | Lockheed Martin; NASA
ExecutiveGov reported that NASA said Thursday that the agency and Lockheed Martin Skunkworks have begun assembling the X-59 Quiet Supersonic Technology (QueSST) aircraft. QueSST “would collect data on how quiet the aircraft would appear to the public during flights. The aircraft features the eXternal Vision System, a forward-facing camera that uses augmented reality to provide the pilot with visual awareness.” Skunkworks “is using its Combined Operation: Bolting and Robotic Auto-drill (COBRA) system to accelerate drilling activities for QueSST’s wing assembly.” NASA “has scheduled QueSST for initial flight in 2022 and plans to begin gathering the sought public reaction data in 2024.”
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