WASHINGTON, May 8 (Xinhua) -- NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) intend to conduct joint research on sonic boom modeling, the U.S. federal space agency announced Thursday.

    Sonic Boom is the shocks caused by the supersonic flight of an aircraft. Sonic booms can generate enormous amounts of sound energy, sounding a lot like an explosion.

    Sonic boom modeling is one of the key technologies needed to enable a next generation supersonic aircraft quiet enough that it can fly supersonically over land without significant disturbance to the public, said NASA in a statement. "Such a vehicle also could connect Los Angeles and Tokyo in about 5 hours, flying at Mach 2."

    Through this modeling activity, NASA and JAXA hope to strengthen their collaborative relationship in aeronautics research, according to NASA.

    NASA and JAXA will explore the possibility of further collaboration in aeronautics research and development, including the field of supersonic transport technology, and possibly including JAXA's Silent Supersonic Technology Demonstration Project.