Shaped Sonic Boom Demonstration
Encyclopedia
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
Shaped Sonic Boom Demonstration, also known as the Shaped Sonic Boom Experiment, was a two-year program that used a Northrop F-5E with a modified fuselage
Fuselage
The fuselage is an aircraft's main body section that holds crew and passengers or cargo. In single-engine aircraft it will usually contain an engine, although in some amphibious aircraft the single engine is mounted on a pylon attached to the fuselage which in turn is used as a floating hull...
to demonstrate that the aircraft's shock wave, and accompanying sonic boom
Sonic boom
A sonic boom is the sound associated with the shock waves created by an object traveling through the air faster than the speed of sound. Sonic booms generate enormous amounts of sound energy, sounding much like an explosion...
, can be shaped, and thereby reduced. The program was a joint effort between NASA's Langley Research Center
Langley Research Center
Langley Research Center is the oldest of NASA's field centers, located in Hampton, Virginia, United States. It directly borders Poquoson, Virginia and Langley Air Force Base...
, Dryden Flight Research Center
Dryden Flight Research Center
The Dryden Flight Research Center , located inside Edwards Air Force Base, is an aeronautical research center operated by NASA. On March 26, 1976 it was named in honor of the late Hugh L. Dryden, a prominent aeronautical engineer who at the time of his death in 1965 was NASA's deputy administrator...
at Edwards Air Force Base
Edwards Air Force Base
Edwards Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located on the border of Kern County, Los Angeles County, and San Bernardino County, California, in the Antelope Valley. It is southwest of the central business district of North Edwards, California and due east of Rosamond.It is named in...
, California and Northrop Grumman
Northrop Grumman
Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American global aerospace and defense technology company formed by the 1994 purchase of Grumman by Northrop. The company was the fourth-largest defense contractor in the world as of 2010, and the largest builder of naval vessels. Northrop Grumman employs over...
.
The program became, at that time (2003 according to Supersonic transport
Supersonic transport
A supersonic transport is a civilian supersonic aircraft designed to transport passengers at speeds greater than the speed of sound. The only SSTs to see regular service to date have been Concorde and the Tupolev Tu-144. The last passenger flight of the Tu-144 was in June 1978 with its last ever...
), the most extensive study on the sonic boom. After measuring the 1,300 recordings, some taken inside the shock wave by a chase plane, the SSBD demonstrated a reduction in boom by about one-third. Several of the flights included NASA Dryden's F-15B
F-15 Eagle
The McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle is a twin-engine, all-weather tactical fighter designed by McDonnell Douglas to gain and maintain air superiority in aerial combat. It is considered among the most successful modern fighters with over 100 aerial combat victories with no losses in dogfights...
research testbed aircraft following to measure the F-5E's shock wave signature close-up. During the flights, many shock wave patterns were measured by the F-15B at various distances and orientations from the F-5E.
An unmodified F-5E flew a few seconds behind the demonstration aircraft to provide a baseline sonic boom measurement to validate the reduced boom produced by the demonstrator.
A U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School
U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School
The U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School is the Air Force's very advanced flight training school that trains experimental test pilots, flight test engineers, and flight test navigators to carry out tests and evaluations of new aerospace weapon systems and also other aircraft of the U.S. Air Force...
Blanik L-23
LET L-23
-See also:-References:*...
glider
Glider (sailplane)
A glider or sailplane is a type of glider aircraft used in the sport of gliding. Some gliders, known as motor gliders are used for gliding and soaring as well, but have engines which can, in some cases, be used for take-off or for extending a flight...
carrying a microphone on the left wingtip, and a pressure transducer on the side of the fuselage, flew at a lower altitude of 10,000 feet under the path of the F-5E, which flew at 32,000 feet, to record sonic booms in the air. In addition, sonic boom data were gathered on the ground by an array of 42 sensors and recording devices along 2.5 miles under the flight path of the F-5E. Dryden-developed Boom Amplitude and Direction Sensors recorded ground-level sonic boom signature data.
The demonstration was initially part of the Quiet Supersonic Platform program funded by DARPA
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is an agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of new technology for use by the military...
. Subsequently, the Vehicle Systems division of NASA's Office of Aeronautics funded the project. Northrop-Grumman Corporation's Integrated Systems Sector in El Segundo, California
El Segundo, California
El Segundo is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located on the Santa Monica Bay, it was incorporated on January 18, 1917, and is one of the Beach Cities of Los Angeles County and part of the South Bay Cities Council of Governments...
, modified the U.S. Navy F-5E aircraft into the SSBD aircraft. The aircraft is preserved on display in the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum
Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum
The Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum is located at the Space Coast Regional Airport, 6600 Tico Road, in Brevard County, just south of Titusville, Florida. The VAC contains vintage aircraft and a hangar with a restoration area. The VAC also has a Memorabilia Hall with flight gear, dress...
at Titusville
Titusville
-United States of America:*Titusville, Birmingham, Alabama*Titusville, Florida*Titusville, New Jersey*Titusville, a former community in Malone , New York*Titusville, Pennsylvania...
Florida.
See also
- Supersonic aerodynamics
- Whitcomb area rule
- Sound barrierSound barrierThe sound barrier, in aerodynamics, is the point at which an aircraft moves from transonic to supersonic speed. The term, which occasionally has other meanings, came into use during World War II, when a number of aircraft started to encounter the effects of compressibility, a collection of several...
- Mach numberMach numberMach number is the speed of an object moving through air, or any other fluid substance, divided by the speed of sound as it is in that substance for its particular physical conditions, including those of temperature and pressure...
- QSST
- Sonic boomSonic boomA sonic boom is the sound associated with the shock waves created by an object traveling through the air faster than the speed of sound. Sonic booms generate enormous amounts of sound energy, sounding much like an explosion...
- Shock waveShock waveA shock wave is a type of propagating disturbance. Like an ordinary wave, it carries energy and can propagate through a medium or in some cases in the absence of a material medium, through a field such as the electromagnetic field...