NASA Chief Voices Support For Supersonic X-59 At Paris Air Show

LE BOURGET—Despite President Trump’s recent executive order directing the FAA to lift the long-standing ban on overland supersonic flight, the X-59 low boom demonstrator remains highly relevant, says NASA’s acting administrator.

Although running years behind its original schedule, the NASA aircraft is still expected to play a key role in helping ICAO and the FAA develop a noise certification standard for sonic booms that could clear the way for legal overland civil fight at higher supersonic speeds.  

“We're very proud of that particular mission in aeronautics,” acting Administrator Janet Petro tells Aviation Week in an interview at the Paris Air Show. “The X-59 program is going to revolutionize how you can do supersonic flight and we will be the first ones to have done that without the disruptive sonic boom. So, I'm feeling very positive about that program,” she says, adding that preparations are being finalized for the start of test flights.

But while the X-59—one of the agency’s marquee X-plane projects—remains a fully supported and committed program, the future of some other key aeronautics research efforts are in doubt, such as electrification and small core turbine technology. Despite looming budget cuts, NASA aeronautics is being directed to pivot to developing revolutionary propulsion technology for commercial aviation.

The task is being orchestrated by Robert Pearce, associate administrator for NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, Petro says. “He was coming to the Paris Air Show, but we had a discussion at the last minute in which he said, ‘I feel it would be better if I stay back here and work with the teams at NASA so we can figure out the answers to that question.’ What are the research and the focus areas in terms of technology development that they need to focus on to enable revolutionary propulsion?”

Petro adds that NASA is working closely with its main industry partners on re-shaping programs to meet the research agenda. “They're really renowned as world leaders in research and development,” she says, “so I know they're going to make good choices, but he was going to work with a number of his research and aeronautics centers back in the U.S.”

“We are looking to maintain American leadership in all domains, including aeronautics,” she adds. “So he will make those choices, obviously hypersonics [is a priority], and we are working with the Department of Defense and others as that is high on the administration priority list, and of course, the X-59. But for the smaller ones in there, they will have to make some tough choices. They have a lot of industry and academic partners, so they'll work with them and maybe they can fill some gaps also.” 

Petro acknowledges that Congress has the final say on NASA’s budget and that some of the deep cuts proposed by Trump could be blocked by appropriators on Capitol Hill. “We’re going to follow the president’s and administration’s priorities, and Congress will appropriate the budget that we will execute to,” she says.