NASA plans to conduct a series of supersonic technology research flights over the Galveston area in support of the agency’s Commercial Supersonic Technology Project.
The flights, which will take off from nearby Ellington Airport, will take place in November and feature a NASA F/A-18 aircraft performing a series of supersonic dive maneuvers off the coast.
This will produce a sound that will mimic the predicted sound signatures of NASA’s recently announced Low Boom Flight Demonstration X-plane, or LBFD -- the plane in the photo that accompanied the link you clicked to read this story.
NASA tells Newsradio 740 KTRH that the flight campaign will help NASA determine the best way to collect community response data for future supersonic flights, once NASA’s LBFD aircraft is ready to fly.