Nasa starts mission to beat the boom in supersonic air travel The dream of whizzing air passengers around the globe at speeds faster than sound has been around ever since 1947 […]

The dream of whizzing air passengers around the globe at speeds faster than sound has been around ever since 1947 when Chuck Yeager became the first pilot to break the sound barrier.

But the problem has always been the sonic boom – the loud bang when a plane breaks through waves of sound bunched up in front of it.

Concorde may have made the supersonic passenger dream a reality, but it was permitted to fly faster than sound only over the ocean because the sonic boom was so powerful – it could shatter glass.

The i newsletter cut through the noise Email address is invalid Email address is invalid Thank you for subscribing! Sorry, there was a problem with your subscription.

Now, nearly 70 years after Mr Yeager’s sound-breaking moment, and at the same airbase in California, Nasa has been experimenting with different levels of the supersonic boom, and come up with the supersonic thump.

Varying levels of supersonic booms

Yesterday at the Edwards Air Force Base, an F/A-18 mission support aircraft performed four different manoeuvres to demonstrate the varying levels of sonic booms, with each one getting quieter.

A normal sonic boom is around 106 decibels and Nasa hopes to reduce this down to 75 decibels.

It is all part of Nasa’s “New Aviation Horizons” initiative, which aims to develop and build a series of planes over the next 10 years as a way to tackle some of the challenges facing air travel such as the sonic boom and pollution caused by flying.

The aircraft shape

Although Nasa has not given any specific details about the new technologies it intends to test, it has stated that an emphasis will be the shape of aircraft.

“Recent research has shown it is possible for a supersonic airplane to be shaped in such a way that the shock waves it forms when flying faster than the speed of sound generate a sonic boom so quiet it hardly will be noticed by the public, if at all,” Nasa said in a statement.

And Nasa’s supersonic project manager, Peter Coen, is certain that the design can turn the supersonic boom, which has been likened to the sound of distant thunder, into a soft thump.

“We know the concept is going to work, but now the best way to continue our research is to demonstrate the capability to the public,” he said.