Quiet skies ahead: NASA and Lockheed Martin prepare the X-59 supersonic jet for 1st flight
September 16, 2025
When NASA test pilot Nils Larson straps into the cockpit of the Lockheed Martin X-59 QUESST in the coming weeks, he will be trusting his life to an aircraft that has never flown before.
Around him lies a web of protection – digital fly-by-wire systems, backup computers, layered hydraulics, thermal batteries and even a hydrazine restart unit for the engine – each designed to keep the jet stable in the air and bring it home safely.
“I try to always walk up and shake the crew chief’s hand,” said Larson. “Because it’s not your airplane; it’s the crew chief’s airplane, and they’re trusting you with it. You’re just borrowing it for an hour or two, then bringing it back and handing it over.”
That trust is about to be tested. After years of design and ground trials, NASA’s one-of-a-kind X-59 supersonic research jet is preparing for its first flight, a milestone that could redefine the sound of aviation.
The first flight of the X-59 will be shaped by caution
Despite its futuristic lines, the maiden flight of the X-59 will be deliberately modest: a short loop at around 240 mph and lower altitude, intended only to check how systems work together. Only after that cautious beginning will it climb higher and eventually break the sound barrier.
Every detail of the test sequence has been mapped out, from taxi runs to landing roll, with safety driving every decision. For NASA and contractor Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works, the goal is to build confidence step by step, proving not just that the aircraft can fly but that it can fly reliably.
Confidence comes partly from knowing the jet has already flown, virtually, at least. The X-59’s Flight Test Instrumentation System (FTIS) has been recording for months, capturing 60 streams of data with more than 20,000 parameters. In July, NASA researchers tested a scale X-59 at Mach 1.4 to validate the technology on board.
“Before we even take off, it’s reassuring to know the system has already seen more than 200 days of work,” said Shedrick Bessent, NASA instrumentation engineer. “If FTIS can show us what’s working – with reliability and consistency – that reduces stress and uncertainty.”
Those 200 days have generated more than 8,000 files, creating a history that engineers can lean on when deciding whether the aircraft is truly ready to leave the ground.
NASA’s safety nets aboard the X-59
The X-59’s safety net runs deep. Its fly-by-wire system, a NASA innovation dating back to the 1970s, translates pilot inputs into electronic signals that computers decode and transmit to control surfaces.
On the X-59, those signals run along fibre-optic wires, ensuring precision and reducing weight.
Every core system has redundancy. If one computer fails, another takes over. If electrical or hydraulic power is lost, backups step in.
Thermal batteries can drive hydraulics, while an emergency hydrazine system can restart the engine in mid-air. It is belt-and-braces engineering designed for the unknowns of first flight.
Larson will also rely on equipment tailored for the extreme environment in which the X-59 is designed to operate.
At its planned cruising altitude of 55,000 feet – more than twice as high as most airliners – a full oxygen delivery system will feed his mask, while a counter-pressure G-suit helps his body withstand the conditions.
In the unlikely event of failure, the cockpit has an ejection seat and canopy adapted from a US Air Force T-38 trainer, complete with a first aid kit, radio and water. It is a last-resort measure, but its presence speaks to NASA’s meticulous safety culture.
Much of this confidence was built through ground-based “aluminium bird” tests at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center.
Engineers simulated flight conditions by feeding the jet’s systems with electronic signals representing altitude, speed and environment. Pilots inside the cockpit flew as though airborne, watching as control surfaces like rudders responded in real time.
Unlike surprise scenarios in commercial simulator training, these tests were planned with pilots, focusing not on catching them out but on how the aircraft itself responded to stress and system failures.
Taxi tests in California have since checked the jet’s steering and braking on the runway, following structural vibration trials, full afterburner engine runs, and electromagnetic compatibility checks. Each step has edged the aircraft closer to the runway threshold.
NASA’s Quesst: Silence matters as much as speed
Only once these safety boxes are ticked will the X-59 begin to show what makes it truly different.
Powered by a modified F414-GE-100 engine producing 22,000 pounds of thrust, the jet is expected to reach Mach 1.4 (around 925 mph) at 55,000 feet. But unlike Concorde, it will not deliver a disruptive boom.
By placing the engine on top of the fuselage and reshaping the aircraft’s body, NASA and Lockheed engineers have spread out shockwaves so that people on the ground should hear nothing more than a soft thump.
That is the essence of NASA’s Quesst mission: to fly supersonic without shattering communities below.
Once flying, the X-59 will criss-cross the United States to measure how communities react to this new sound. The data will go to regulators, potentially paving the way for lifting the long-standing ban on supersonic passenger flights over land.
If that happens, the X-59 may be remembered not just as a one-off experimental jet, but as the machine that made quiet supersonic flight possible, bridging the gap between Concorde’s noisy legacy and a new era of faster, quieter, and more sustainable air travel.
