This next-generation plane is made to go faster than sound without producing a full sonic boom
By Jackie Flynn Mogensen edited by Claire Cameron
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NASA wants to make supersonic travel quieter. On Thursday the agency released new footage of its X-59 jet, a still-in-development plane that is designed to break the sound barrier over land—but with a sonic “thud” rather than a boom.
Faster air travel speeds mean shorter flights. But when an aircraft travels more rapidly than the speed of sound, it creates shock waves, generating a sonic boom. Those sonic booms can be a nuisance for people living nearby and can even cause damage to homes and startle animals.
The X-59 jet is NASA’s answer to that problem. Featuring a needlelike tip, it’s designed to travel at more than 1,000 miles per hour—about twice as fast as a commercial jet—while limiting the noise of the boom. NASA expects its sonic “thump” to be as loud as “distant thunder” or the thud of a car door closing down the block.
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NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft sits inside Hangar 4826 at the agency’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif., on November 18, 2025.
NASA/Christopher LC Clark
The new test footage shows the X-59 jet performing various in-air maneuvers, including rolling from side to side, up, and down and deploying its landing gear, above the Mojave Desert in California.
Eventually, NASA hopes to deliberately fly the jet over neighborhoods in the U.S. and to survey residents about their experience with hearing the reduced sound.
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