Podcast: NASA’s Supersonic Program Continues Moving Forward

June 14, 2021

Despite the recent shutdown of supersonic business jet developer Aerion, industry and government R&D efforts continue to facilitate a new generation of quieter supersonic aircraft. That includes NASA’s Low Boom Flight Demonstrator (LBFD) project, which aims to conduct the first flight of the X-59 QueSST test bed in 2022. “All of this is related to changing the [noise] standards to open up the market for future commercial supersonic flight,” said LBFD Project Manager Cathy Baum, “which will then transition to likely business jets first and then large transport aircraft.”

In this episode of NBAA’s “Flight Plan,” host Rob Finfrock speaks with:

  • Cathy Bahm, NASA’s LBFD project manager
  • Larry Cliatt, NASA’s LBFD acoustic validation tech lead
  • Gautam Shah, NASA’s LBFD community testing sub-project Manager
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