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NASA’s X-59 supersonic demonstrator returned to the skies on Friday morning for a nine-minute flight that was cut short after a warning light illuminated. However, NASA officials said they were still able to gather data during the second flight from the aircraft built in collaboration with Lockheed Martin at its Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California.

The aircraft on October 28, reaching 12,000 feet and 200 knots. Plans for the second mission called for an hour-long flight that would expand the envelope to 20,000 feet and 225 knots. This would be followed by a series of successive flights to further expand the flight profile as it prepared to participate in the NASA Quesst program to examine the effect of quieter supersonic technologies on a variety of communities. This data would be used internationally to contemplate whether supersonic flight over land could once again become possible.

The second flight was initially delayed after a caution light for a vehicle system went off at around 10 a.m. Friday morning, according to Cathy Bahm, project manager for the low boom flight demonstrator at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. The system was reset, and “we were good to go,” Bahm said.

At 10:54 a.m., the aircraft took off from Edwards Air Force Base in California, but landed at 11:03 a.m. after a separate, unrelated vehicle system warning illuminated. “The warning asserted shortly after takeoff, we followed our emergency procedures, and returned to base safely,” Bahm said. NASA has moved the aircraft back to the hangar to evaluate the issue and determine the path forward. “We’re looking forward to getting back to flight as soon as possible.”

Jim “Clue” Less, based out of NASA Armstrong, was the X-59 test pilot, with the NASA pilot who flew the first flight, Nils Larson, following in a chase plane. “I certainly hoped to have more to talk about than nine minutes of flight,” Less said. “But the plane performed great. The takeoff roll and liftoff were uneventful. We were climbing out, getting ready to set up for the first test point, when we got the warning, which required an immediate return to base. And although I had not intended to have to land quite as urgently for my first landing, the plane performed beautifully.”

As for landing, he added, “The control room team backed me up. Rollout and stopping were all as we expected. It was just like the simulator.” The aircraft had reached 12,000 feet and 200 knots, similar to the first test flight, when the warning light went off.

Bahm noted, “Despite the early landing, this was a good day for the team,” and added that the team was able to gather more data on the aircraft, including on performance control laws of the aircraft and on “mid” speed taxiing braking. Further, NASA was able to monitor a heavy-weight landing of the aircraft—it had already tested a light-weight landing. In addition, this flight incorporated gauges that will enable the loads team to evaluate data.

Less also discussed flying with the X-plane’s external vision system, a series of cameras that replicate the view out the forward windshield. The X-plane was designed without a forward windshield in the cockpit to provide a contour that would lower the noise signature at supersonic speeds. “A very good high-def image. And it’s almost like looking out the window in front of the airplane.”

Developed by NASA Langley, the external vision system could be used for other aircraft in the future, such as remotely piloted aircraft, and “provides a lot of situational awareness as well,” Bahm said, adding that this is technology that could be leveraged in the future. NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate associate administrator Bob Pearce added, “Every test flight is a step towards proving its airworthiness, and that’s the goal right now is to get the X-59 airworthiness proved out so we can start the Quesst mission. So…flying for 9 minutes provided 9 minutes more data than we had yesterday.”

He added that NASA has never had an aircraft that is designed to fly faster than the speed of sound without the loud sonic boom. “What we’re doing is unprecedented.”