Credit: NASA/Lori Losey
Andres Almeida (Host): For decades, flying faster than the speed of sound over land has been off-limits for commercial passengers. But it’s not speed that’s really the limit. It’s sound. Sonic booms, to be precise.
On this episode of Small Steps, Giant Leaps, we explore how NASA is working to bring supersonic flight back quietly with the X-59 experimental plane.
Our guest is David “Nils” Larson, lead research pilot at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Nils takes us inside the science and engineering required to transform a disruptive sonic boom…
[SFX sonic boom shockwave]
…into a gentler sonic thump.
[SFX quiet sonic thump]
And explains how this experimental aircraft could help reshape the future of air travel.
This is Small Steps, Giant Leaps.
The first of several flight tests of the X-59 took place in October of 2025. While this flight was not supersonic, the successful takeoff and landing demonstrated the prowess of the design and engineering teams. What we learn could lead to a giant leap in how we move around the world.
Host: Hi Nils, welcome to the podcast.
David “Nils” Larson: Thank you for having me.
Host: Can you kick us off with giving us a little bit of background on what the X-59 Quesst mission is?
Nils Larson: Sure. The only people who can go supersonic over land are essentially the government or people with special permission. So, the military and NASA can do it for our research.
You know, the Concorde used to fly supersonic, but it couldn’t go supersonic over land. So, over 50 years, we’ve had a ban on supersonic flight over land. And it’s a ban because of that sonic boom. So, if you don’t go faster than the speed of sound, you don’t make the boom.
So, our “quest,” if you will, is to get the data, and we’re trying to take that sonic boom and turn it into a sonic “thump.”
And if we can turn it into a sonic thump, something that’s not displeasurable to the public, then we can turn around, maybe, and turn that speed limit into a sound limit.
So, the short bite is turning a speed limit into a sound limit. And there’s many different ways, or many different …
