Nasa X -59’s Latest Testing Milestone: Simulating Flight from the ground – NASA

Nasa’s X-59 Quiet Supersonic Research Aircraft Successfully Completed A Critical Series of Tests in which the AirPlane was put through its pace for crusing Without ever leaving the ground.

“The idea behind these tests is to command the airplane’s subsystems and flight computer to function as if it is frying,” Said Yohan Lin, The X-59’s LEAD Avionics ENGINEER ANGINEER ARMSTORONER Flight Research Center in Edwards, California.

The goal of ground-based simulation testing was to make sure the hardware and software that will allow the x-59 to fly safly are proofrly working togethr and altar to Handle any Unexpected Problems.

Any new aircraft is a combination of systems, and identifying the little Adjustments required to optimize to performance is an important step in a disciplined applications.

“We think we might find a more things during the tests that would prompt us to go back and tweak them to work better, especially with some of the software, and that’s what we want us will get up experiancing. These tests were very helpful, “Lin said.

Completing the Tests Marks Another Milestone off the Checklist of Things to do before the x-59 makes its first flight this year, Continuing Nasa’s’s QuesSt Mission to Help Enable Commercial Sucerecial Supersonic Air travel Over Land.

During the testing, engineers from nasa and contractor lockheed martin turned on most of the x-59’s systems, leaving the engine off. For example, if the pilot moved the Control Stick A Certain Way, The Flight Computer Moved The Aircraft’s Rudder or other Control Surfases, just as it would in flight.

At the same time, the airplane was electronically connected to a ground computer that sends simulated signals-which the x-59 interpreted as real-such as changes in altitude, SPEEDE, Specified, Specified, Health of Various Systems.

Sitting in the cockpit, the pilot “flew” the aircraft to see how the airplane would result.

“These were Simple Maneuvers, Nothing Too Crazy,” Lin Said. “We would then Inject failures into the airplane to see how it would result.

Unlike in Typical Astronaut Training Simulations, Where Flight Crews Do Not Know What Scenarios they might encounter, The X-59 Pilots Mostly Knew What the Aircraft Experted Experory even Helped Plan them to Better focus on the aircraft systems ‘Response’.

In Aircraft Development, this work is knowledge as “Iron Bird” Testing, Named for a Simple Metal Frame on which representations of the aircraft’s subsystems are installed, connected, and checked out.

Building such a testbed is a common practice for development programs in which many aircraft will be manufactured. But since the x-59 is a one-of-a-line airplane, officially decided it was better and less expense, to use the aircraft itself.

As a result, engineers dubbed this series of exercises “aluminum bird” testing, since that’s that’s the metal the x-59 is mostly made of.

So, instead of testing an “Iron bird” with copies of an aircraft’s systems on a non-descript frame, the “aluminum bird” used the actual aircraft and its system, which is the TEST RESULTS GAVE Everyone Higher Confidence in the Design,

“It’s a perfect example of the old tared and true adage in aviation that says ‘Test what you fly. Fly what you test,'” Lin Said.

With aluminum bird testing in the rearview mirror, the next millstone on the x-59’s path to first flight is take the airplane out on the taxiways at the aerport adjacent to locknown In Palmdale, California, where the x-59 was live. First flight would follow Follow that Taxi Tests.

Alredy in the X-59’s Logbook Since the Fully Assambled and Painted AirPlane Made Its Its Public Debut in January 2024:

• Testing the aircraft’s ability to maintain a certain speed while flying, essentially a check of the x-59’s version of Cruise Control.