All the speed with less of the noise. That’s the hope for supersonic jets following flight tests of a sonic boom suppression system.
The first flight tests of the system – an electronically controlled, retractable spike 7 metres long – were carried out last week at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, on a modified F-15 jet. Developed by business-jet firm Gulfstream Aerospace in Savannah, Georgia, the spike, fitted to the aircraft’s nose, extends to reduce the shock waves that form as a plane approaches Mach 1. These waves, created when air pushed away from the aircraft is suddenly compressed, are what cause the sonic boom.
Spreading pressure waves more evenly over a greater length staggers them and reduces the boom’s intensity (91av, 26 November 2005, p 42).
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