NASA X-59 Explainer: Science of Sonic Booms

 

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NASA X-59

https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/quesst/2026/08/10/nasa-x-59-explainer-science-of-sonic/

Shock waves are visible around a T-38 trainer aircraft during NASA’s Air-to-Air Background Oriented Schlieren flights in 2019. Schlieren imaging makes normally invisible changes in air density visible, giving researchers a way to see the same shock waves that can create sonic booms on the ground. NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center used this work to refine airborne schlieren photography techniques in support of X-59 flight testing and NASA’s Quesst mission.

https://zerohurt.blogspot.com/2014/08/popular-science-august-1971-can-science.html