NASA will test a supersonic plane that can fly at speeds of more than 1,700 km/h without making noise.

The American space agency NASA is preparing for a major milestone in aviation history: this Friday it will launch the X-59, its experimental supersonic aircraft. Designed to redefine high-speed flight, it will be tested with the primary goal of assessing whether engineers have managed to reduce the characteristic noise associated with this type of technology.

The test launch will take place this Friday, January 12th at 4:00 pm ET (21:00 UTC, 6:00 pm Argentine time, 3:00 pm Mexican time) from Palmdale, California.

This aircraft is 30 meters long and 4.27 meters high, it will be able to reach a cruising altitude of 16,764 meters and will fly at a speed of Mach 1.42 (a measure of relative speed, defined as the ratio between the speed of an object and the speed of sound), which corresponds to 1,760 kilometers at one o’clock. Supersonic flight occurs when a flying object exceeds the sound barrier of 1,234 kilometers per hour, or Mach 1.

The creators claim that when flying it will not emit an alarming sonic boom, but will be barely audible to people on the ground. It has an external HD vision system that allows you to see what is happening in real time, it has only one engine located at the top of the tail, and swept wings for a smoother entry into the atmosphere.

The aircraft will be tested in populated areas across the US to test its effectiveness and ensure that the sound produced is barely audible to people.

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