NASA Snaps Stunning Photos of Hypersonic Aircraft
Until Elon Musk can fly us around the world in a rocket, conventional air travel is the fastest way from point A to point B. It hasn’t gotten any faster over the years, though. Commercial flights are limited by the speed of sound because no one wants sonic booms breaking their windows. That’s why NASA and Lockheed Martin are working toward “low boom” technology. To that end, NASA took some photos of supersonic shockwaves, and the images happen to be quite cool.
Any aircraft traveling faster than the speed of sound generates a pressure front that surrounds the frame and forces surrounding air out of the way. People on the ground perceive that shockwave as a sonic boom. To better understand the physics at work and help in designing low-boom aircraft, NASA wanted to get images of supersonic planes in flight. Unsurprisingly, that’s not very easy.
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