Supersonic aircraft travel faster than the speed of sound but these planes aren’t likely candidates for commercial use because of their supersonic noise. Mechanical engineering professor Theocharis Baxevanis is working with researchers from Texas A&M University and Boeing Research & Technology (BR&T) to take the sonic booms out of supersonic flight.
NASA selected the team for a five-year, $10 million grant as part of the NASA Aeronautics’ University Leadership Initiative (ULI). The researchers aim to design a commercially-viable supersonic aircraft that can change shape during flight to reduce noise and increase efficiency.
The team will lead research into designing commercially-viable civil supersonic transport (SST) aircraft that can modify shape during flight under a range of conditions to meet noise and efficiency requirements for overland flight.