Aficionados of supersonic travel might be in for a great surprise within the next few years, as NASA announced on Monday that it is awarding a $20 million contract to airplane manufacturing giant Lockheed Martin in order to develop a next generation, supersonic commercial aircraft.
The project would be the first in a number of planned "X-planes" under NASA's New Aviation Horizons Initiative, which the organization introduced when it discussed its fiscal year 2017 budget.
If Lockheed Martin does succeed, the commercial world would be able to once more enjoy faster-than-sound travel, more than a decade since the world's most iconic supersonic commercial aircraft, the Concorde, was retired.
The Concorde was a trailblazer, and for 27 years it served as the U.K.'s quintessential commercial airliner, capable of travelling from London to the United States in about 3 hours. However, the aircraft's low fuel efficiency, high maintenance costs, a tragic crash in 2000 and low revenue following the 9/11 attacks ultimately put a stop to the Concorde's operations.
With the NASA-Lockheed Martin deal, however, a newer worthy successor to the Concorde might soon be in the works. Utilizing a technology called Quiet Supersonic Technology (QueSST), the updated supersonic aircraft would be able to travel in a more efficient, safe and quiet manner.
Contrary to the massive sonic booms that are descriptive of the Concorde when it breaks the sound barrier, the new aircraft being developed by Lockheed Martin would simply create a supersonic "heartbeat," which sounds much like a soft thump. Such a development would possibly make the aircraft a lot more welcome in countries around the world.
After all, during its 27 years of service, Concordes were so loud that countries such as India imposed restrictions on the aircraft when it flew over its airspace. With the upcoming Lockheed Martin supersonic craft, such a thing would be no problem at all.
Charles Bolden, head of NASA, is optimistic about the project.
"It's worth noting that it's been almost 70 years since Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1 as part of our predecessor agency's high-speed research. Now we're continuing that supersonic X-plane legacy with this preliminary design award for a quieter supersonic jet with an aim toward passenger flight," he said.
If funding for the project is satisfactory and things go as planned, NASA has stated that a scaled-down version of the commercial airliner would be able to make test flights as early as 2020.
