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Summary
Parametric X-59 low-boom aircraft with a mass statement and a Run Command link to a Python AeroSandbox script that reports supersonic cruise L/D, drag and neutral point within seconds of any geometry change.Package Details
A parametric nTop model of an X-59-style low-boom supersonic demonstrator. It’s a starter file for a student hackathon: change the wing, canards or tail, and see how cruise efficiency and pitch stability respond. The notebook includes a Mass Estimates section, a group mass statement with payload, engine, structures and fuel at point locations. It also has an Aero Analysis section, where an nTop Run Command block sends the current geometry, mass and CG to a small Python script. The script uses AeroSandbox and reports cruise CL, CD, L/D, drag, pitching moment, neutral point and static margin in about 2 seconds. Version 1.1 adds a twisted main wing with separate root, panel-break and tip twist, passes the fuselage shape from nTop to the script, adds an Area Ruling table of cross-sectional area along the aircraft, and includes a reference X-59 mesh to compare designs against. The aero integration (
x59_aero.py and the Run Command chain) was built with Claude.
Files
The site’s download button gives you a zip with the notebook,
x59_aero.py,
requirements.txt, this README and the license.
Setup (about 5 minutes)
- Install Python 3.9 or newer from python.org and tick Add python.exe to PATH.
-
Install AeroSandbox:
If you skip this, the script installs AeroSandbox on its first run, which takes a minute or two.
-
Create the folder
C:\X59_Aeroand putx59_aero.pyin it. To use a different folder, change the notebook’s Aero Script Folder variable to match. -
Check the script works (it prints the baseline estimate):
-
Open
x59-hackathon-starter.ntopin nTop 6.2 or later and save a working copy. - When the Aero Analysis section runs, nTop asks permission to run the command. Allow it.
Using it
nTop asks permission again every time the command changes, which is every time you change an input it uses. The command line carries the aircraft parameters, so treat the prompt as “run the analysis?”. Each run takes about 2 seconds.
Each run also writes
aero_results/latest_report.txt and latest_results.png next to
the script.
Baseline mass statement
Lower Fuel Mass to model the aircraft partway through the mission.
Main wing twist
The main wing is a Twisted 2 Panel Wing custom block. Twist is set at three spanwise stations, Wing Root Twist, Wing Break Twist and Wing Tip Twist, varies linearly between them and pivots about mid-chord. The baseline is 0, -2.412 and -3 deg. The script reads a negative value as washout (nose down).Area ruling
The Area Ruling section cuts the assembled aircraft (X59 OML) with planes normal to
X at evenly spaced stations from nose to tail and measures each section’s area. Open
Area Ruling Table to view or plot the curve. Raise Area Ruling Station Count for
a smoother curve; 101 stations take about 12 seconds to rebuild. Use it to spot sudden
changes in area along the aircraft, which add wave drag.
Reference mesh
The Verification section holds a reference X-59 surface mesh, placed over the model. Use it to check how far a design has moved from the baseline shape.From a terminal
Any key you leave out keeps its baseline value. Lengths are in mm and angles in deg.fuse_top_x, fuse_top_z, fuse_side_x, fuse_side_y,
fuse_bot_x, fuse_bot_z) take comma-separated lists in mm. Left out, they default to
the rails’ control points.
Evidence and limits
- The notebook was prepared and checked in an internal nTop build (43139, with the Notebook API). This publication copy was not reopened in a public nTop 6.2 release.
- With the 1.1 notebook, the script run on the exact command line the notebook builds gives cruise L/D 7.16, best L/D 7.21, neutral point 20,898 mm and static margin +30.0% MAC at Mach 1.41, 14,660 kg and CG 18,281 mm. Every block in the notebook, including the Area Ruling table, built without errors.
- This is a quick, semi-empirical estimate (AeroSandbox
AeroBuildup, including wave drag). Use it to rank designs. Expect absolute values to be off by 10–20%.- The fuselage follows points sampled along the notebook’s Top, Side and Bottom Rails, as smooth rounded sections. The Fuselage Top/Bottom Rho values aren’t passed.
- The vertical tail, T-tail and engine duct are fixed in, or left out of, the script. Edits to them in nTop don’t change the estimate.
- Moments are untrimmed (no control-surface deflection).
- The neutral point comes from a straight-line fit of Cm against CL over the sweep, from -1 to 7 deg angle of attack.
- Main wing twist is applied at the root, panel break and tip, linear in between. Canard twist is still a single value: positive is read as washout, and the tip gets half of it.
- Area Ruling uses flat cuts normal to X, not the Mach-angle cuts of a full supersonic area-rule analysis.
- The masses are public-figure-based estimates, not X-59 data.
License and credits
The notebook and script are released under the MIT license; see LICENSE.- This is an independent, approximate model inspired by the NASA/Lockheed Martin X-59 QueSST. It isn’t affiliated with or endorsed by NASA or Lockheed Martin.
- AeroSandbox (MIT) is a dependency, not bundled.