X-59 starts engine for the first time

[Zaphod58]

The Lockheed/NASA X-59 QueSST has operated under its own power for the first time in the program. The aircraft has been undergoing ground testing, which found a problem with software that has required some significant changes. The first tests involved motoring the engine without actually starting it, to ensure no leaks, and everything in the engine communicates properly with instrumentation. Once motoring tests were completed, the engine was run at idle power which took it out of preservation, which it had been in since it was installed on the aircraft. Tests will occur at increasing power levels, until finally they will perform a test that sees a high power setting with rapid throttle changes, followed by a simulated flight to end the testing. First flight for the aircraft is targeting early 2025 now, after several years of delays. 

NASA’s Quesst mission marked a major milestone with the start of tests on the engine that will power the quiet supersonic X-59 experimental aircraft.
These engine-run tests, which began Oct. 30, allow the X-59 team to verify the aircraft’s systems are working together while powered by its own engine. In previous tests, the X-59 used external sources for power. The engine-run tests set the stage for the next phase of the experimental aircraft’s progress toward flight.
The X-59 team is conducting the engine-run tests in phases. In this first phase, the engine rotated at a relatively low speed without ignition to check for leaks and ensure all systems are communicating properly. The team then fueled the aircraft and began testing the engine at low power, with the goal of verifying that it and other aircraft systems operate without anomalies or leaks while on engine power.

https://www.nasa.gov/aeronautics/x-59-fi...o-takeoff/

[UltraBudgie]

Sleek looking thing. Here's a hires photo:



Here's one from the article you linked:



"Honey, does this hanger make my ass look fat?"

[Maxmars]

She is a beauty!

[Encia22]

She is a beauty!

Stunning!

And in a Monty Python tradition, it's only wafer-thin! 

 

[UltraBudgie]

She is a beauty!

I am greatly disturbed by the length label reading "99'7 IN." rather than "99 FT. 7 IN."

Once you see it, you can't unsee it.

[Sirius]

Didn't know this was real/built already.  Doesn't look fun for landings.

Weird looking thing.  Wonder why they just stuck the engine on the back and didn't integrate it into the fuselage?

[Tecate]

Wow Zaphod, just wow!

That is one sleek and beautiful piece of machinery.

Is this supposed to be an initial design/project that will eventually become an airliner or is it going to be for more military applications?

The SST designation is transport, but transport of what in particular?

Either way she is gorgeous.

Tecate

[NeoAstra]

alright this is weird.

Flashback to a Dairy-Queen in 1996 Stratford Texas.
6 year old me is obsessed with space, NASA, and astronauts.
My family and I are eating and there is an older couple behind us who were passing through, they happened to overhear me talking about something space related.
long story short, their son is a scientist at NASA and helped develop/test a craft that looked almost identical to this, this is in the 90s though so the timeframe of the development of the x-59 doesn't add up.
They must have really liked my enthusiasm or something because they got our address from my parents. Their son mailed me lots of pictures of said similar plane and others, along with a letter. I will go to my mothers house and see if I can find the manila envelope and I'll share my results here.

[Zaphod58]

Wow Zaphod, just wow!

That is one sleek and beautiful piece of machinery.

Is this supposed to be an initial design/project that will eventually become an airliner or is it going to be for more military applications?

The SST designation is transport, but transport of what in particular?

Either way she is gorgeous.

Tecate

This is a technology demonstrator for future SST programs. They’re trying to demonstrate shaking ability to reduce sonic booms to barely noticeable, which would allow for supersonic flight over populated areas, which would allow real supersonic transport for a change.

[Zaphod58]

Didn't know this was real/built already.  Doesn't look fun for landings.

Weird looking thing.  Wonder why they just stuck the engine on the back and didn't integrate it into the fuselage?

Noise abatement. They’re trying to reduce all the noise they possibly can.