Decades ago, space travel seemed practically impossible. However, since the space race between the United States and the USSR began in the Cold War, there have been many space missions that have been carried out. In addition, the birth of private companies such as SpaceX or Blue Origin have also enhanced these missions. Currently there are many satellites that can be seen from our planet that have been launched by these companies. NASA has also participated in many such missions, and is now preparing to finish developing its future hypersonic spacecraft.
This ship is called the X-59 and was shown for the first time two years ago. It is currently taking shape and it is expected that construction will be completed shortly.
Exceeds the speed of sound
The function of this ship would be to make supersonic commercial air travel . It is being developed in California and would reach a speed of almost 1500 kilometers per hour.
Its design is made like this on purpose: its nose is shaped so that the sound of the sonic boom is reduced the moment the ship exceeds the speed of sound (1235 kilometers per hour). In this way, the spacecraft could achieve hypersonic speeds shortly after takeoff.
For its development there is a budget of almost 250 million dollars. The calculations estimate that this year its construction will be finished but it will not be until next year when we see it in tests .
Regarding its dimensions, it is estimated that it will measure about 28 meters long and will have a wingspan of almost 9 meters. It will also weigh almost 15,000 kilos.
The engineers involved in the construction of the ship are proud to see a lot of separate pieces right now making up this great engineering creation together.
Millimeter precision during assembly
To check that all the pieces fit together and that there would be no problems during assembly, laser projections were used to improve precision.
At the moment, the X-59 only has space for one passenger (the pilot), but it is not ruled out that future models will make room for more passengers.
They also want to create more silent supersonic ships but not only to do space missions, but also for the American army to use them in some of its missions.
However, NASA is not going to be the only company that wants to make a hypersonic spacecraft for commercial space flights, although this aircraft can be a before and after when it comes to hypersonic flights.
