NASA has awarded a contract to a team led by Lockheed Martin to design a “low-boom” demonstration aircraft capable of flying at supersonic speeds.

Lockheed Martin will receive approximately $20 million over 17 months for preliminary design work on a Quiet Supersonic Technology (QueSST) jet that emits a "soft thump" rather than the disruptive boom currently associated with supersonic flight. The Lockheed Martin team includes subcontractors GE Aviation, of Cincinnati, and Tri Models Inc., of Huntington Beach, California.

“Developing, building and flight testing a quiet supersonic X-plane is the next logical step in our path to enabling the industry's decision to open supersonic travel for the flying public," says Jaiwon Shin, associate administrator for NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission.

Lockheed will develop baseline aircraft requirements and a preliminary aircraft design, with specifications, and provide supporting documentation for concept formulation and planning. This documentation will be used to prepare for the detailed design, building and testing of the QueSST jet. Performance of this preliminary design must also undergo analytical and wind tunnel validation.

QueSST is the first in a series of "X-planes" in NASA's New Aviation Horizons initiative. Image credit: Lockheed Martin. The low-boom flight demonstration phase of the project will include validation of community response to the quieter supersonic design. The detailed design and building of the QueSST aircraft will fall under a future contract competition.

QueSST is the first in a series of "X-planes" in NASA's New Aviation Horizons initiative, introduced in the agency’s fiscal year 2017 budget. The goals of the 10-year initiative are to reduce fuel use, emissions and noise through innovations in aircraft design that depart from the conventional tube-and-wing aircraft shape.

New Aviation Horizons X-planes will typically be about half-scale of a production aircraft and likely are to be piloted. Design-and-build will take several years, with aircraft starting their flight campaign around 2020, depending on funding, NASA says.