Learning to Listen to the X-59

Dr. Alexandra Loubeau, one of the technical co-leads for sonic boom community testing for the Quesst mission, sets out a microphone in the California desert. . The Quesst mission recently completed testing of operations and equipment to be used in recording the sonic thumps of the X-59. The testing was the third phase of Carpet Determination in Entirety Measurements flights, called CarpetDIEM for short. An F-15 and an F-18 from NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center created sonic booms, both loud and soft, to verify the operations of ground recording systems spread out across 30 miles of open desert.