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Holy smoke some legit science is going on here! This is NASA's new experimental jet, rolled out today during a big to-do.
We've had supersonic jets for a while of course, but right now pretty much only the military has any practical use for them. Most civilian aviation authorities have banned supersonic flight over their countries because whenever a plane goes transonic it creates a very loud BOOM that can be disruptive, frightening, or even painful to people on the ground. That's why the only supersonic passenger jet, the Concorde, could only fly over the ocean between the US and Europe and it used to have to fly far off the coast before it was allowed to speed up to supersonic.
Fixing that problem is NASA's goal with the X-59. This jet and it's enormous shnozz were engineered so that when it goes transonic, rather than creating a loud BOOM, it is expected to give only a tiny "whumph" instead. NASA plans to fly the jet over various communities in the US and get feedback on what it sounds like from the ground in the real world. The ultimate hope is that this technology can lead to supersonic flight over populated areas being a practical thing eventually. This is a good thing because assuming the engine design is efficient, shorter flight times will mean less pollution.
