Perhaps the most striking change on the X-59 is that it does not have a glass cockpit window. Instead, the cockpit is fully enclosed to be as aerodynamic as possible, and the pilot watches a camera feed of the outside world on a 4K monitor<\/a> known as the eXternal Visibility System.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can’t see very clearly through glass when you look at it at a very shallow angle, and so you need to have a certain steepness of the view screen to have good optical qualities, and that would develop a strong shock wave that would really corrupt the low-boom characteristics of the airplane,\u201d says Michael Buonanno<\/a>, the air vehicle lead for the X-59 at Lockheed Martin.<\/p>\n The X-59 has repurposed components of other NASA aircrafts.<\/p>\n COURTESY OF: Lockheed Martin<\/p>\n For this first flight, the X-59 flew at a lower altitude and at about 240 mph, according to NASA. During future tests, the jet will gradually increase its speed and altitude until it goes supersonic, NASA said, which occurs at about 659 mph at 55,000 feet, or 761 mph at sea level. The speed of sound varies according to temperature and to a lesser degree pressure<\/a>, causing it to decrease at higher altitudes.<\/p>\n![\"Image](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/p21-170-02.jpg\"\/)
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