JAXA is conducting research for the next generations of aircraft. Their goal is to design a silent supersonic transportation system that is economically viable and eco-friendly for travels in the 21st century. The D-SEND project is composed of drop tests D-SEND #1 and D-SEND #2. In the first phase called D-SEND#1, two different axisymmetric bodies were dropped from a balloon, and the sonic booms, measured both in the air and on the ground, were compared with each other.
In the D-SEND #2 drop test, an experimental supersonic airplane (unmanned aircraft with no engine and capable of autonomous flight) designed utilizing JAXA’s proprietary low sonic boom design technology is dropped from a balloon at an altitude of 30 km. The unmanned aircraft will glide over the boom measurement systems at Mach 1.3 and a flight-path angle of 50 degrees, where the generated boom signature goes down vertically toward the systems. The sonic boom is measured by a series of boom measurement systems held at an altitude of 1km.
With D-SEND #2, JAXA aims to achieve the following goals.
- Demonstrate the effect of low sonic boom design at the front and end of the fuselage
- Establish low-boom wave acquisition technology
- Verify the low-boom propagation analysis technology
General information D-SEND-2
| Launch site | Esrange Space Center |
| Launch date | on August 16, 2013 |
| Mass/kg | 1 ton |
| Balloon size | 311 500 m³ (11 M ft³) |
| Height | ~30 km |
Contact persons
Mr. Mikael Toyra, Project manager SSC
Dr.Kenji Yoshida, Project manager JAXA
