Maximum afterburner for NASA’s X-59 engine test run
December 28, 2024
After firing up its engines for the first time in November 2024, NASA’s experimental X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft has completed its first maximum afterburner engine test run; a significant milestone towards the project’s upcoming first flight in 2025.
Conducted at Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California, the engine run “demonstrated the engine’s ability to operate within temperature limits and with adequate airflow for flight,” explained NASA. The test also showed the engine’s ability to operate in sync with the aircraft’s other subsystems.
The X-59’s engine – a modified F414-GE-100 – will provide 22,000 pounds of thrust to propel the aircraft to a cruising speed of Mach 1.4. Located in an unconventional position atop the aircraft, it will prove instrumental in helping achieve the X-59’s mission of making supersonic flight quieter – creating a ‘thump’ rather than a loud sonic boom.
Speaking at the commencement of engine runs earlier this year, Lockheed Martin Skunk Works X-59 manager Pat LeBeau said it was “an emotional high to see and hear another innovative, boundary-pushing Skunk Works X-plane coming to life,” concluding that the team “remain focused on the path forward to a safe and successful first flight”.
