The X-59 Sonic Boom: A Quiet Future Ahead?

NASA's efforts to reduce sonic booms have led to the development of the X-59 Sonic, an experimental aircraft designed to minimize the noise generated by supersonic flight. According to NASA, the X-59 is as quiet as predicted, with tests conducted over select communities in the US set to begin as early as 2025.

The rise of personal flying vehicles has been a hot topic in recent years, with numerous startups vying for attention and investment. One such company that caught our eye is Jetson, a recreational ultra-light EV (electric vertical takeoff and landing) vehicle designed for fun and to make friends jealous. The founder claims that anyone can learn to fly the Jetson in just five minutes, thanks to its intuitive design. The aircraft features eight electric motors, can reach speeds of 63 mph, and has a flight time of up to 20 minutes. In the event of an emergency, the vehicle is equipped with a ballistic parachute and a roll cage for added safety.

Jetson's pricing is steep at $92,000, but the company plans to deliver its first aircraft by the end of 2023. While the Jetson is not designed to solve the climate crisis or revolutionize transportation, it's an exciting development in the world of personal flying vehicles.

Air Taxis: A Promised Delivery That Remains Elusive?

Despite numerous promises from aviation startups, air taxis remain a elusive dream. Companies like Joby Aviation, Delta Airlines, and Archer Aviation have been touting their plans to launch commercial air taxi services, but it seems that the timeline keeps getting pushed back. According to industry experts, 2023 is not likely to be the year we see widespread adoption of air taxis.

Joby Aviation has been testing its prototype EV toll since 2018 and has completed over 1,000 test flights. The company has cleared two out of four FAA system review certifications and plans to launch commercial service in New York and Los Angeles next year. Archer Aviation's production model aircraft, the Evol named Midnight, was introduced in late 2022 and is expected to enter service in 2025. However, midnight has yet to fly, and the company has been conducting test flights on its prototype vehicle called Maker.

Archer Aviation plans to launch its air taxis autonomously, with a human controller on the ground watching up to 10 aircraft at once. The company predicts that it will have up to 5,000 aircraft in the sky by 2035. Meanwhile, Whisk, formerly known as Kitty Hawk, has plans to launch its air taxis without a pilot, relying on autonomous technology and human controllers on the ground.

Infrastructure and Regulatory Approval: A Major Hurdle

For these companies to take off, they need more than just buy-in from regulators and trust from passengers – they need infrastructure and approval from cities. Most of them expect to fly into vertiports, or hubs for vertical takeoff and landing vehicles, as well as drones.

Amazon's Prime Air: Delivering Packages via Drones

Just before the new year, Amazon launched Prime Air in two markets: College Station, Texas, and Lockeford, California. The company claims that its drone will deliver packages up to five pounds in under an hour from the time a customer places their order. According to reports, Amazon expects to deliver up to 50,000 packages across the two markets in a single year.

Walmart has already started using drones to deliver packages in parts of Texas, while Elroy Air introduced its production model delivery drone, the Chaparral, at the end of 2022. The Chaparral can carry up to 500 pounds of cargo and travel up to 300 miles away. Elroy has partnered with FedEx, and the two companies plan to start testing a delivery model sometime this year.

What's Next for Aviation?

As we look ahead to 2023, it's clear that the aviation industry is on the cusp of something big. From personal flying vehicles to air taxis and drone delivery services, there are countless innovations that promise to change our lives. But will they deliver? Only time will tell.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enNASA wants to quietly bring back supersonic travel personal flying vehicles appear closer to reality than ever and where is that Amazon drone delivery service we keep hearing about this is the flying Tech to watch in 2023 it's been two decades since the Concord was retired from service grounding commercial supersonic air travel but new research on supersonic flight from both the private and public sectors could put passengers back in planes that fly faster than the speed of sound leading the charge are scientists working on the x-59 a joint project between NASA and Lockheed Martin the x-59 is an experimental supersonic jet designed to address one of the key barriers to mainstream supersonic flight that Sonic Boom this jet is designed to minimize the shock waves created by aircraft flying at the speed of sound thanks to its revolutionary streamlined design Engineers expect the x-59 to create more of a Sonic thump than a boom my colleague Claire Riley got an exclusive up close look at the aircraft while it was being assembled click the link on your screen to check that out NASA and Lockheed will get their first chance to see how their design works very soon Engineers just installed the engine in November the x-59 is scheduled to make its first test flight this year and scientists will begin what they call acoustic testing that's when they'll fly the jet over a 30-mile array of microphones in the Mojave Desert the goal is to learn whether the x-59 Sonic thump is as quiet as predicted if all goes as expected NASA will begin testing the x-59 over a few select communities in the U.S as early as 2025. there was no shortage of startups touting their takes on the future of personal flying vehicles in 2022 but none of them piqued our interest quite like the Jetson one this is a recreational ultra light EV toll or electric vertical takeoff and Landing vehicle not meant to solve the climate crisis or revolutionized Transportation it's just designed for fun and maybe to make your friends a little jealous Jetson one's founder told me earlier this year that he could put anyone in the vehicle and teach them to fly in five minutes unlike helicopters and planes there isn't a complicated array of buttons and switches and the Pilot's left hand is the thrust lever and the right hand is a three-axis joystick it's powered by eight electric motors can hit 63 miles per hour and is a flight time of 20 minutes Jetson 1 says it can continue to fly if any single motor goes out there's also a ballistic parachute that only deploys at higher altitudes and a roll cage to protect the pilot in the event of a low altitude crash the Jetson one is priced at 92 000 U.S and the company says it will make its first deliveries by the end of 2023. but what about those air taxis we keep getting promised dozens of Aviation startups have been telling us for years that were just a few years away from being able to order a ride to work or to the airport in an electric flying vehicle spoiler alert it's not happening this year so let's check in with a few of the companies that industry experts generally think are the most likely players in this space to make this dream a reality Joby Aviation is probably the closest to launching a real air taxi service the company first started testing its prototype EV toll in 2018 and has since completed over 1 000 test flights Delta Airlines has agreed to invest up to 200 million dollars in Joby and the two companies are planning to launch commercial air taxi service in New York and Los Angeles Joby cleared two out of four FAA System review certifications in 2022 and has said it hopes to launch its service next year Archer Aviation says by 2025 you'll be able to catch a ride in its Evol named midnight from Newark Airport to Manhattan for about a hundred bucks midnight is Archer's production model aircraft introduced in late 2022. midnight hasn't flown yet but Archer has been conducting test flights on its prototype vehicle called maker I saw a demonstration flight in November it came within about 500 feet of us and I can tell you it was not nearly as noisy as a helicopter you can see my video on midnight by clicking that link on your screen then there's whisk the company formerly known as Kitty Hawk unlike Archer and Joby whisk has plans to launch its air taxis autonomously that's right no pilot inside the vehicle though there would be a human controller on the ground watching up to 10 aircraft at once whisk hasn't said when it expects to launch service but does predict it will have up to 5 000 aircraft in the Sky by 2035. of course for any of these companies they don't just need buy-in from the FAA and the trust of their passengers they need the infrastructure and the approval of cities they want to operate in most of them expect to fly in and out of vertaports basically hubs for vertical takeoff and Landing Vehicles as well as drones speaking of drones it's been about a decade since Amazon started promising us some of our packages would come to our front door via a flying delivery robot so where are those delivery drones right before the new year Amazon launched Prime air in two markets College Station Texas and Lockeford California that's according to a report from a Sacramento TV station the company says this drone will be delivering packages up to five pounds in less than an hour from the time a customer places their order Amazon expects to deliver up to 50 000 packages across the two markets in a single year and it's worth noting that Walmart is already using drones to deliver packages in parts of Texas meanwhile Elroy air introduced its production model delivery drone at the Chaparral in 2022 this drone can carry 500 pounds of cargo up to 300 miles away Elroy has partnered with FedEx and the two companies plan to start testing a delivery model sometime this year okay so we can expect to see a lot out of the aviation industry in 2023 so what do you think of all the technologies that we just saw which are most likely to actually change our lives let me know in the comments below if you enjoyed this video don't forget to give it a thumbs up and subscribe to CNET for more what the futureNASA wants to quietly bring back supersonic travel personal flying vehicles appear closer to reality than ever and where is that Amazon drone delivery service we keep hearing about this is the flying Tech to watch in 2023 it's been two decades since the Concord was retired from service grounding commercial supersonic air travel but new research on supersonic flight from both the private and public sectors could put passengers back in planes that fly faster than the speed of sound leading the charge are scientists working on the x-59 a joint project between NASA and Lockheed Martin the x-59 is an experimental supersonic jet designed to address one of the key barriers to mainstream supersonic flight that Sonic Boom this jet is designed to minimize the shock waves created by aircraft flying at the speed of sound thanks to its revolutionary streamlined design Engineers expect the x-59 to create more of a Sonic thump than a boom my colleague Claire Riley got an exclusive up close look at the aircraft while it was being assembled click the link on your screen to check that out NASA and Lockheed will get their first chance to see how their design works very soon Engineers just installed the engine in November the x-59 is scheduled to make its first test flight this year and scientists will begin what they call acoustic testing that's when they'll fly the jet over a 30-mile array of microphones in the Mojave Desert the goal is to learn whether the x-59 Sonic thump is as quiet as predicted if all goes as expected NASA will begin testing the x-59 over a few select communities in the U.S as early as 2025. there was no shortage of startups touting their takes on the future of personal flying vehicles in 2022 but none of them piqued our interest quite like the Jetson one this is a recreational ultra light EV toll or electric vertical takeoff and Landing vehicle not meant to solve the climate crisis or revolutionized Transportation it's just designed for fun and maybe to make your friends a little jealous Jetson one's founder told me earlier this year that he could put anyone in the vehicle and teach them to fly in five minutes unlike helicopters and planes there isn't a complicated array of buttons and switches and the Pilot's left hand is the thrust lever and the right hand is a three-axis joystick it's powered by eight electric motors can hit 63 miles per hour and is a flight time of 20 minutes Jetson 1 says it can continue to fly if any single motor goes out there's also a ballistic parachute that only deploys at higher altitudes and a roll cage to protect the pilot in the event of a low altitude crash the Jetson one is priced at 92 000 U.S and the company says it will make its first deliveries by the end of 2023. but what about those air taxis we keep getting promised dozens of Aviation startups have been telling us for years that were just a few years away from being able to order a ride to work or to the airport in an electric flying vehicle spoiler alert it's not happening this year so let's check in with a few of the companies that industry experts generally think are the most likely players in this space to make this dream a reality Joby Aviation is probably the closest to launching a real air taxi service the company first started testing its prototype EV toll in 2018 and has since completed over 1 000 test flights Delta Airlines has agreed to invest up to 200 million dollars in Joby and the two companies are planning to launch commercial air taxi service in New York and Los Angeles Joby cleared two out of four FAA System review certifications in 2022 and has said it hopes to launch its service next year Archer Aviation says by 2025 you'll be able to catch a ride in its Evol named midnight from Newark Airport to Manhattan for about a hundred bucks midnight is Archer's production model aircraft introduced in late 2022. midnight hasn't flown yet but Archer has been conducting test flights on its prototype vehicle called maker I saw a demonstration flight in November it came within about 500 feet of us and I can tell you it was not nearly as noisy as a helicopter you can see my video on midnight by clicking that link on your screen then there's whisk the company formerly known as Kitty Hawk unlike Archer and Joby whisk has plans to launch its air taxis autonomously that's right no pilot inside the vehicle though there would be a human controller on the ground watching up to 10 aircraft at once whisk hasn't said when it expects to launch service but does predict it will have up to 5 000 aircraft in the Sky by 2035. of course for any of these companies they don't just need buy-in from the FAA and the trust of their passengers they need the infrastructure and the approval of cities they want to operate in most of them expect to fly in and out of vertaports basically hubs for vertical takeoff and Landing Vehicles as well as drones speaking of drones it's been about a decade since Amazon started promising us some of our packages would come to our front door via a flying delivery robot so where are those delivery drones right before the new year Amazon launched Prime air in two markets College Station Texas and Lockeford California that's according to a report from a Sacramento TV station the company says this drone will be delivering packages up to five pounds in less than an hour from the time a customer places their order Amazon expects to deliver up to 50 000 packages across the two markets in a single year and it's worth noting that Walmart is already using drones to deliver packages in parts of Texas meanwhile Elroy air introduced its production model delivery drone at the Chaparral in 2022 this drone can carry 500 pounds of cargo up to 300 miles away Elroy has partnered with FedEx and the two companies plan to start testing a delivery model sometime this year okay so we can expect to see a lot out of the aviation industry in 2023 so what do you think of all the technologies that we just saw which are most likely to actually change our lives let me know in the comments below if you enjoyed this video don't forget to give it a thumbs up and subscribe to CNET for more what the future\n"