United States X-59 silent ultrasonic tester completes the first ultrasonic flight

According to information from IT House on June 6, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States released news on June 5 that the X-59 silent ultrasonic test machine, developed jointly with Lockheed-Martin, had completed its first ultrasonic flight on that day, which was a crucial step towards verifying its silent ultrasonic capability later in the year.

According to the IT House, the X-59 fuselage is designed to reduce the acoustic impact of aircraft when they break through the sound barrier, using a very groundbreaking long configuration. The objective of NASA's development of X-59 is to optimize aircraft design and significantly reduce the impact of sound explosions on the ground, thereby potentially removing current restrictions on ultrasonic flight.

NASA states that it completed its first flight in October 2025, that it carried out a cumulative 14 test flights in March 2026 to the present, and that the first ultrasound test took place this month. According to official accounts, the aircraft will fly at an altitude of about 55,000 feet (16.7 km) at a rate of 1.4 MHz (925 miles/hour, equivalent to 1489 km/hour).

Since 1973, civilian ultrasound (i.e., more than sound) flights have been prohibited over the United States mainland because of the devastating effects of sound explosions. NASA hopes to change this by using X-59, which is also at the heart of its Quesst mission. The mission aims to demonstrate silent supersonic speed flight technology by reducing large sonic booms to a quieter “bong bang”. The data collected from X-59 will be shared with United States and international regulatory bodies to provide a basis for the development of new data-based, commercially acceptable noise thresholds for ultrasound over land.

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