Modular Cross-Platform System Gives High-Speed Pilots Better Visual Aids

The ability to fly at supersonic speed without producing unsettling sonic booms would re-open a path to faster commercial aviation. In pursuit of aerodynamics that would soften the boom to a dull thud, NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center engineers developed a ground-based schlieren imaging system that allowed them to photograph shockwaves produced by an aircraft traveling at supersonic speeds.