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By Amazing Space
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By NASA
5 Min Read NASA’s X-59 Moves Toward First Flight at Speed of Safety
NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft is seen at dawn with firetrucks and safety personnel nearby during a hydrazine safety check at U.S. Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, on Aug. 18, 2025. The operation highlights the extensive precautions built into the aircraft’s safety procedures for a system that serves as a critical safeguard, ensuring the engine can be restarted in flight as the X-59 prepares for its first flight. Credits: Lockheed Martin As NASA’s one-of-a-kind X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft approaches first flight, its team is mapping every step from taxi and takeoff to cruising and landing – and their decision-making is guided by safety.
First flight will be a lower-altitude loop at about 240 mph to check system integration, kicking off a phase of flight testing focused on verifying the aircraft’s airworthiness and safety. During subsequent test flights, the X-59 will go higher and faster, eventually exceeding the speed of sound. The aircraft is designed to fly supersonic while generating a quiet thump rather than a loud sonic boom.
To help ensure that first flight – and every flight after that – will begin and end safely, engineers have layered protection into the aircraft.
The X-59’s Flight Test Instrumentation System (FTIS) serves as one of its primary record keepers, collecting and transmitting audio, video, data from onboard sensors, and avionics information – all of which NASA will track across the life of the aircraft.
“We record 60 different streams of data with over 20,000 parameters on board,” said Shedrick Bessent, NASA X-59 instrumentation engineer. “Before we even take off, it’s reassuring to know the system has already seen more than 200 days of work.”
Through ground tests and system evaluations, the system has already generated more than 8,000 files over 237 days of recording. That record provides a detailed history that helps engineers verify the aircraft’s readiness for flight.
Maintainers perform a hydrazine safety check on the agency’s quiet supersonic X-59 aircraft at U.S. Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, on Aug. 18, 2025. Hydrazine is a highly toxic chemical, but it serves as a critical backup to restart the engine in flight, if necessary, and is one of several safety features being validated ahead of the aircraft’s first flight.Credits: Lockheed Martin “There’s just so much new technology on this aircraft, and if a system like FTIS can offer a bit of relief by showing us what’s working – with reliability and consistency – that reduces stress and uncertainty,” Bessent said. “I think that helps the project just as much as it helps our team.”
The aircraft also uses a digital fly-by-wire system that will keep the aircraft stable and limit unsafe maneuvers. First developed in the 1970s at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, digital fly-by-wire replaced how aircraft were flown, moving away from traditional cables and pulleys to computerized flight controls and actuators.
On the X-59, the pilot’s inputs – such as movement of the stick or throttle – are translated into electronic signals and decoded by a computer. Those signals are then sent through fiber-optic wires to the aircraft’s surfaces, like its wings and tail.
Additionally, the aircraft uses multiple computers that back each other up and keep the system operating. If one fails, another takes over. The same goes for electrical and hydraulic systems, which also have independent backup systems to ensure the aircraft can fly safely.
Onboard batteries back up the X-59’s hydraulic and electrical systems, with thermal batteries driving the electric pump that powers hydraulics. Backing up the engine is an emergency restart system that uses hydrazine, a highly reactive liquid fuel. In the unlikely event of a loss of power, the hydrazine system would restart the engine in flight. The system would help restore power so the pilot could stabilize or recover the aircraft.
Maintainers perform a hydrazine safety check on NASA’s quiet supersonic X-59 aircraft at U.S. Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, on Aug. 18, 2025. Hydrazine is a highly toxic chemical, but it serves as a critical backup to restart the engine in flight, if necessary, which is one of several safety features being validated ahead of the aircraft’s first flight. Credits: Lockheed Martin Protective Measures
Behind each of these systems is a team of engineers, technicians, safety and quality assurance experts, and others. The team includes a crew chief responsible for maintenance on the aircraft and ensuring the aircraft is ready for flight.
“I try to always walk up and shake the crew chief’s hand,” said Nils Larson, NASA X-59 lead test pilot. “Because it’s not your airplane – it’s the crew chief’s airplane – and they’re trusting you with it. You’re just borrowing it for an hour or two, then bringing it back and handing it over.”
Larson, set to serve as pilot for first flight, may only be borrowing the aircraft from the X-59’s crew chiefs – Matt Arnold from X-59 contractor Lockheed Martin and Juan Salazar from NASA – but plenty of the aircraft’s safety systems were designed specifically to protect the pilot in flight.
The X-59’s life support system is designed to deliver oxygen through the pilot’s mask to compensate for the decreased atmospheric pressure at the aircraft’s cruising altitude of 55,000 feet – altitudes more than twice as high as that of a typical airliner. In order to withstand high-altitude flight, Larson will also wear a counter-pressure garment, or g-suit, similar to what fighter pilots wear.
In the unlikely event it’s needed, the X-59 also features an ejection seat and canopy adapted from a U.S. Air Force T-38 trainer, which comes equipped with essentials like a first aid kit, radio, and water. Due to the design, build, and test rigor put into the X-59, the ejection seat is a safety measure.
All these systems form a network of safety, adding confidence to the pilot and engineers as they approach to the next milestone – first flight.
“There’s a lot of trust that goes into flying something new,” Larson said. “You’re trusting the engineers, the maintainers, the designers – everyone who has touched the aircraft. And if I’m not comfortable, I’m not getting in. But if they trust the aircraft, and they trust me in it, then I’m all in.”
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Last Updated Sep 12, 2025 EditorDede DiniusContactNicolas Cholulanicolas.h.cholula@nasa.govLocationArmstrong Flight Research Center Related Terms
Armstrong Flight Research Center Advanced Air Vehicles Program Aeronautics Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate Ames Research Center Glenn Research Center Langley Research Center Low Boom Flight Demonstrator Quesst (X-59) Supersonic Flight Explore More
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By NASA
CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, alongside NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman, and Christina Koch, will launch on the Artemis II mission early next year. The crew will participate in human research studies to provide insights about how the body performs in deep space as part of this mission. Credit: (NASA/James Blair) A sweeping collection of astronaut health studies planned for NASA’s Artemis II mission around the Moon will soon provide agency researchers with a glimpse into how deep space travel influences the human body, mind, and behavior.
During an approximately 10-day mission set to launch in 2026, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen will collect and store their saliva, don wrist monitors that track movement and sleep, and offer other essential data for NASA’s Human Research Program and other agency science teams.
“The findings are expected to provide vital insights for future missions to destinations beyond low Earth orbit, including Mars,” said Laurie Abadie, an aerospace engineer for the program at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, who strategizes about how to carry out studies on Artemis missions. “The lessons we learn from this crew will help us to more safely accomplish deep space missions and research,” she said.
One study on the Artemis II mission, titled Immune Biomarkers, will explore how the immune system reacts to spaceflight. Another study, ARCHeR (Artemis Research for Crew Health and Readiness), will evaluate how crew members perform individually and as a team throughout the mission, including how easily they can move around within the confined space of their Orion spacecraft. Astronauts also will collect a standardized set of measurements spanning multiple physiological systems to provide a comprehensive snapshot of how spaceflight affects the human body as part of a third study called Artemis II Standard Measures. What’s more, radiation sensors placed inside the Orion capsule cells will collect additional information about radiation shielding functionality and organ-on-a-chip devices containing astronaut cells will study how deep space travel affects humans at a cellular level.
“Artemis missions present unique opportunities, and challenges, for scientific research,” said Steven Platts, chief scientist for human research at NASA Johnson.
Platts explained the mission will need to protect against challenges including exposure to higher radiation levels than on the International Space Station, since the crew will be farther from Earth.
“Together, these studies will allow scientists to better understand how the immune system performs in deep space, teach us more about astronauts’ overall well-being ahead of a Mars mission, and help scientists develop ways to ensure the health and success of crew members,” he said.
Another challenge is the relatively small quarters. The habitable volume inside Orion is about the size of a studio apartment, whereas the space station is larger than a six-bedroom house with six sleeping quarters, two bathrooms, a gym, and a 360-degree view bay window. That limitation affects everything from exercise equipment selection to how to store saliva samples.
Previous research has shown that spaceflight missions can weaken the immune system, reactivate dormant viruses in astronauts, and put the health of the crew at risk. Saliva samples from space-based missions have enabled scientists to assess various viruses, hormones, and proteins that reveal how well the immune system works throughout the mission.
But refrigeration to store such samples will not be an option on this mission due to limited space. Instead, for the Immune Biomarkers study, crew members will supply liquid saliva on Earth and dry saliva samples in space and on Earth to assess changes over time. The dry sample process involves blotting saliva onto special paper that’s stored in pocket-sized booklets.
“We store the samples in dry conditions before rehydrating and reconstituting them,” said Brian Crucian, an immunologist with NASA Johnson who’s leading the study. After landing, those samples will be analyzed by agency researchers.
For the ARCHeR study, participating crew members will wear movement and sleep monitors, called actigraphy devices, before, during, and after the mission. The monitors will enable crew members and flight controllers in mission control to study real-time health and behavioral information for crew safety, and help scientists study how crew members’ sleep and activity patterns affect overall health and performance. Other data related to cognition, behavior, and team dynamics will also be gathered before and after the mission.
“Artemis missions will be the farthest NASA astronauts have ventured into space since the Apollo era,” said Suzanne Bell, a NASA psychologist based at Johnson who is leading the investigation. “The study will help clarify key mission challenges, how astronauts work as a team and with mission control, and the usability of the new space vehicle system.”
Another human research study, Artemis II Standard Measures, will involve collecting survey and biological data before, during, and after the Artemis II mission, though blood collection will only occur before and after the mission. Collecting dry saliva samples, conducting psychological assessments, and testing head, eye, and body movements will also be part of the work. In addition, tasks will include exiting a capsule and conducting simulated moonwalk activities in a pressurized spacesuit shortly after return to Earth to investigate how quickly astronauts recover their sense of balance following a mission.
Crew members will provide data for these Artemis II health studies beginning about six months before the mission and extending for about a month after they return to Earth.
NASA also plans to use the Artemis II mission to help scientists characterize the radiation environment in deep space. Several CubeSats, shoe-box sized satellites that will be deployed into high-Earth orbit during Orion’s transit to the Moon, will probe the near-Earth and deep space radiation environment. Data gathered by these CubeSats will help scientists understand how best to shield crew and equipment from harmful space radiation at various distances from Earth.
Crew members will also keep dosimeters in their pockets that measure radiation exposure in real time. Two additional radiation-sensing technologies will also be affixed to the inside of the Orion spacecraft. One type of device will monitor the radiation environment at different shielding locations and alert crew if they need to seek shelter, such as during a solar storm. A separate collection of four radiation monitors, enabled through a partnership with the German Space Agency DLR, will be placed at various points around the cabin by the crew after launch to gather further information.
Other technologies also positioned inside the spacecraft will gather information about the potential biological effects of the deep space radiation environment. These will include devices called organ chips that house human cells derived from the Artemis II astronauts, through a project called AVATAR (A Virtual Astronaut Tissue Analog Response). After the Artemis II lands, scientists will analyze how these organ chips responded to deep space radiation and microgravity on a cellular level.
Together, the insights from all the human research science collected through this mission will help keep future crews safe as humanity extends missions to the Moon and ventures onward to Mars.
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NASA’s Human Research Program
NASA’s Human Research Program pursues methods and technologies to support safe, productive human space travel. Through science conducted in laboratories, ground-based analogs, commercial missions, the International Space Station and Artemis missions, the program scrutinizes how spaceflight affects human bodies and behaviors. Such research drives the program’s quest to innovate ways that keep astronauts healthy and mission ready as human space exploration expands to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
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