Shock therapy: Nasa experiments could turn deafening sonic booms into a quiet rumble
NASA has released startling new images showing the interaction of shock waves as part of a project that could help reduce the volume of sonic booms.
The research, involving two aircraft flying faster than the speed of sound, could ultimately lead to quieter supersonic planes and the lifting of regulations on flying at such speeds over land.
Two T-38 jets from Edwards Air Force Base in California flew in formation at supersonic speeds 30ft apart, with the lead aircraft 10ft higher.
A new imaging system was fixed to another plane, a B200 King Air, which was flown around 2,000ft away and used to film the shock waves.
JT Heineck, a scientist at Nasa’s Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, said: “We never dreamed that it would be this clear, this beautiful. I am ecstatic about how these images turned out.”
Shock waves are produced when a plane flies faster than the speed of sound, and are heard as a sonic boom on the ground.
The research project into how shock waves interact will contribute to the design of Nasa’s X-59 Quiet Supersonic Technology (QUESST) aircraft, which will produce a quiet rumble or “thump,” rather than a loud sonic boom.
Neal Smith, a research engineer working on the project, said: “What’s interesting is, if you look at the rear T-38, you see these shocks kind of interact in a curve.
“This is because the trailing T-38 is flying in the wake of the leading aircraft, so the shocks are going to be shaped differently. This data is really going to help us advance our understanding of how these shocks interact.”
For Nasa scientists a major challenge was getting the three planes in the right place at the right time to capture the images.
A spokesman for the agency said: “Our Nasa pilots and the Air Force pilots did a great job being where they needed to be.”
It took Nasa more than 10 years to develop the technology to capture the images.
The agency said they were the “firstever images of the interaction of shock waves from two supersonic aircraft in flight”.
If the development of the X-59 is successful it could one day lead to the return of supersonic airliners.