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NASA Wants to Make a Supersonic Jet With No Boom

The Concorde jet could go Mach 2 but it was so loud that it was banned from flying over land. Now NASA engineers think they have a design that could muffle the boom and might usher in the two-and-half hour New York to LA flight.

Released on 03/04/2016

Transcript

(engine roaring)

[Narrator] The Concorde flew from the 1970s

to the early 2000s.

It was sleek, sexy, and incredibly fast,

like mach two fast,

which was kind of a problem.

The Concorde's double sonic boom

was so loud that the world banned

commercial supersonic aircraft over land.

But now NASA is researching a new supersonic

commercial plane design,

one that's supposed to be a lot quieter.

The new X-Plane's design is intended to keep

pressure waves from building up along the air frame

and wing surfaces,

enough to turn the volume of the boom

down from the Concorde's tooth-rattling 106 decibels

to a dull thud, like 65 or 70 decibels.

If it works, supersonic flights between New York

and L.A. could become a reality, cutting a six-hour flight

down to 2 1/2, maybe.

The first prototype's supposed to fly in 2019.

So yeah, you're flight's a little delayed.