CLEVELAND — “I didn't expect to pop into a wind tunnel,” said 3News Betsy Kling as she stepped into a 8X6 foot test section of a wind tunnel with NASA Glenn Research Center Director Dr. James Kenyon.
“Yeah, I know, it's kind of crazy,” replied Kenyon.
When walking around NASA Glenn Research Center with Director James Kenyon, popping into a wind tunnel just happens. This is where researchers explore high speed flight.
“This is a wind tunnel that is supersonic capable,” explains Kenyon. “It's our eight foot by six foot test section, supersonic wind tunnel, capable of going up to two times the speed of sound.”
One of the items tested, a small-scale model of X-59 plane. Designed to fly at 925 miles per hour, generating loud sonic booms. Instead, it makes quieter sonic “thumps.”
“You make little baby sonic booms in here?” asked Kling.
“That's right. That's exactly right,” replied Kenyon.
Commercial supersonic flight is banned because of the boom. If NASA can make supersonic speeds quieter, it would dramatically cut flight times in the future. NASA and Lockheed Martin will officially unveil the X-59 on January 12th at 4pm. But planes aren't the only thing tested in the tunnel.
“A lot of our wind tunnels at NASA that support aeronautics research also support space research,” Kenyon said. “We've had some space test hardware from some of our commercial partners in here recently, testing to see how it was going to work out.”
Opening the back of the wind tunnel lets research do propulsion testing.
“We can burn gas and shoot fire out the back and we can do it at very high speeds. And so that's a that's a cool capability we have,” said Kenyon.
Not bad for a facility actively testing things that fly, for over 65 years.
“Walking through wind tunnels is one of the coolest things you can ever do,” said Kenyon.
“I never experienced it, and I can tell you it is really darn cool,” agreed Kling.
Dr. Kenyon will attend the unveiling of the X-59 plane. And if you want to take a closer look at the wind tunnel, take a virtual tour by clicking here.