This Experimental Japanese Plane Could Take Some Boom Out of Sonic Booms

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) tested an experimental plane designed to produce a quieter sonic boom.

Everyone loves planes that fly faster than the speed of sound, but they don't love having their windows shattered by sonic booms, which makes supersonic civilian transportation sort of problematic. Now Japan's a bit closer to solving that problem. 

The  Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) successfully tested an experimental plane designed to reduce the shock waves created during supersonic flight for a quieter sonic boom. At Sweden's Esrange Space Center on July 24th, the plane was dropped from a balloon at an altitude of 30 kilometers (roughly around 18.6 miles) where it then zoomed to supersonic speed during free fall. The agency is still analyzing the sonic boom data, which was recorded via several aerial microphones attached to a sweet blimp, but they've already uploaded a lengthy video in Japanese.

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Sonic booms are created during supersonic flight when the shock waves produced by the aircraft merge into a single explosive, concussive sound. How the Japanese plane accomplishes this goal exactly is currently murky, though we do know from a 2011 test that the design is axisymmetric, meaning it has cylindrical symmetry. So chances are, that's the key to not blowing people's ears off.

Source: JAXA via Motherboard

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