The overall goal of NASA's fundamental aeronautics program high speed project is to develop and validate the tools, technologies, and concepts to overcome the barriers to practical high-speed…

The overall goal of NASA's fundamental aeronautics program high speed project is to develop and validate the tools, technologies, and concepts to overcome the barriers to practical high-speed vehicles. For the 2013 - 2017 time period, the high speed project has placed a priority on the development of tools and integrated concepts that will enable demonstration of overland supersonic flight with an acceptable sonic boom. Two of the high speed project s technical challenges in this time frame relate to this priority. They are low sonic boom design tools and the development of sonic boom community response metrics and methodologies. The high speed project also has a technical challenge of achieving acceptable airport community noise. In addition to these near-term technical challenges, the high speed project continues to invest in longer-term research on other barriers to high-speed aircraft such as high altitude emissions, cruise efficiency, aeroservoelasticity, flight systems, and scramjet propulsion. The selection of the technical challenges described above was based on the successful research conducted over the previous several years in the fundamental aeronautics supersonics project. Although broader in overall scope than the high speed project, the supersonics project also contained elements that focused on low sonic boom design and sonic boom community response. This work culminated in the 2009 award of the n+2 systems validation contracts. The objective of these NASA research announcement (NRA)-funded efforts was to evaluate tools and technologies for supersonic civil aircraft design. The studies have helped validate these tool sets and technologies through successful wind tunnel testing of scale models. The next critical steps in overcoming the barrier to overland supersonic flight are flight validation of these tools and technologies coupled with community overflight studies that will provide data to support the development of a noise-based regulatory standard to replace the current prohibition of civil overland supersonic flight. Based on the recent successful efforts, NASA is examining the possibility of conducting such a flight demonstration. For this reason, the high speed project has been directed to focus on ensuring the readiness of low-boom design tools for application in a manned flight demonstration project and on the validation of field study methodologies, survey tools, and test protocols required to support community overflight studies as described above. The high speed project has also been tasked with conducting concept studies and research that will inform a future decision process regarding a potential flight demonstration program including the development and definition of programmatic, technical, and cost requirements for a low-boom flight demonstration (lbfd) project. The primary objectives of the lbfd project will be flight validation of design tools and technologies applicable to low sonic boom aircraft and the creation of community response data that will support the development of a noise-based standard for supersonic overland flight. The intent of this task order is to conduct a lbfd concept formulation study. For the purposes of this lbfd concept formulation study, the lbfd project is envisioned as three distinct phases. Phase 1 will include all required lbfd aircraft development activities from system definition and preliminary design through fabrication, checkout, and first flight through supersonic envelope expansion. Phase 1 is expected to include minimal technology development and not exceed 5 years in duration. Phase 2 will transition from envelope expansion to low-boom signature validation flights over an instrumented test range. The final phase 3 will encompass low sonic boom community overflight studies at various communities across the united states and potentially selected international communities. This SOW is primarily directed at the initial formulation an