Nasa said it selected a team led by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics to complete a preliminary design for Quiet Supersonic Technology (Quesst).
This is the first in a series of “X-planes” in Nasa’s New Aviation Horizons initiative, introduced in the agency’s fiscal year 2017 budget.
Lockheed Martin would receive about $20m over 17 months for Quesst preliminary design work, Nasa said.
A Nasa spokesperson said: “The company will develop baseline aircraft requirements and a preliminary aircraft design, with specifications, and provide supporting documentation for concept formulation and planning.
“This documentation would be used to prepare for the detailed design, building and testing of the QueSST jet. Performance of this preliminary design also must undergo analytical and wind tunnel validation.”
Depending on funding a scaled-down version of the aircraft might start flight tests by 2020, Nasa said.
@Agency report.
