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NASA has awarded a contract to create a relatively quiet supersonic jet plane to Lockheed Martin:
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company of Palmdale, California, was selected for the Low-Boom Flight Demonstration contract, a cost-plus-incentive-fee contract valued at $247.5 million. Work under the contract began April 2 and runs through Dec. 31, 2021.
Under this contract, Lockheed Martin will complete the design and fabrication of an experimental aircraft, known as an X-plane, which will cruise at 55,000 feet at a speed of about 940 mph and create a sound about as loud as a car door closing, 75 Perceived Level decibel (PLdB), instead of a sonic boom.
NASA plans to fly the "X-plane" over U.S. cities starting in 2022 in order to "collect data about community responses to the flights".
Also at Popular Mechanics, Newsweek, and Wired.
Previously: NASA Quesst Project - Quiet Supersonic Transport
Concorde Without the Cacophony: NASA Thinks It's Cracked Quiet Supersonic Flight
NASA Tests Light, Foldable Plane Wings for Supersonic Flights
Trump Administration Supports NASA's Quieter Supersonic Plane Design
(Score: 3, Interesting) by bob_super on Wednesday April 04 2018, @07:16PM
Concorde was one of the most beautiful birds to ever fly, but the engines were crazy loud even subsonic (climb out of CDG could be heard like nothing else). Those who saw a B1-B at an air show have a pretty good idea of what I mean.
Now, airliner engines have gotten a lot quieter, but fighter engines have not (it ain't in the requirements, apparently).
The main nuisance isn't the sonic boom, even if you live in Gaza.
How noisy will the engines of a 21st-century civilian supersonic plane be?