NASA photo captures sound barrier being broken
Ammon News - Now here's one for the mantelpiece.
A newly released image shows the sound barrier being broken on February 10 as America's first civil supersonic jet completed its second flight at speeds exceeding Mach 1.
NASA teams on the ground used Schlieren photography to capture the shock waves around Boom Supersonic's demonstrator aircraft XB-1 as it pushed through the air.
'This image makes the invisible visible,' said Blake Scholl, founder and CEO of Boom Supersonic, in a press release.
In order to capture the Schlieren images, Boom chief test pilot Tristan 'Geppetto' Brandenburg positioned XB-1 at an exact time in a precise location over the Mojave Desert.
As the aircraft flew in front of the sun, NASA's team documented the changing air speeds as speeds over Mach 1, the speed of sound (761.23 miles per hour or 1,225.1 kilometers per hour).
The images were captured during ground telescopes with special filters that detect air distortions.
'No audible sonic boom'
NASA teams also collected data on the volume of sound made by XB-1 on the flight route.
Boom says its analysis has found that no audible sonic boom reached the ground during the flight.
Minimizing sonic boom has been a key goal for engineers involved in the race to bring about the return of commercial supersonic air travel.
The thunderous sounds created by sonic booms have meant that international governments have banned them from occurring over densely populated areas or restricted them to only being allowed over the sea.
Having no audible sonic boom, says Scholl, 'paves the way for coast-to-coast flights up to 50% faster.'
On January 28 this year, XB-1 made its first supersonic flight.
The aircraft is the precursor to the development of Boom's supersonic commercial airliner, Overture.
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