While NASA is working with U.S. aviation to explore commercial supersonic technologies, the agency is also looking forward to an even faster era of flight – one of vehicles that can fly hypersonic, or five times the speed of sound. And to further that vision, NASA has issued two awards for studies into vehicle concepts. […]
Category: Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate
NASA, GE Aerospace Hybrid Engine System Marks Successful Test
To an untrained eye, the aircraft engine sitting outside of a Cincinnati facility in December might have looked like standard hardware. But NASA and GE Aerospace researchers watching the unit fire up for a demonstration knew what they were looking at: a hybrid engine performing at a level that could potentially power an airliner. It’s something new in the […]
NASA Tests Technology Offering Potential Fuel Savings for Commercial Aviation
NASA researchers have successfully completed a high-speed taxi test of a scale model of a design that could make future aircraft more efficient by improving how air flows across a wing’s surface, saving fuel and money. On Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2026, the Crossflow Attenuated Natural Laminar Flow (CATNLF) test article reached speeds of approximately 144 […]
NASA Chase Aircraft Ensures X-59’s Safety in Flight
As NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft continues a series of flight tests over the California high desert in 2026, its pilot will be flying with a buddy closely looking out for his safety. That colleague will be another test pilot in a separate chase aircraft. His job as chase pilot: keep a careful watch on things as he tracks the […]
NASA Adds Two F-15 Aircraft to Support Supersonic Flight Research
Two retired U.S. Air Force F-15 jets have joined the flight research fleet at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, transitioning from military service to a new role enabling breakthrough advancements in aerospace. The F-15s will support supersonic flight research for NASA’s Flight Demonstrations and Capabilities project, including testing for the Quesst mission’s […]
NASA, Boeing Test How to Improve Performance of Longer, Narrower Aircraft Wings
The airliner you board in the future could look a lot different from today’s, with longer, thinner wings that provide a smoother ride while saving fuel. Those wings would be a revolutionary design for commercial aircraft, but like any breakthrough technology, they come with their own development challenges – which experts from NASA and Boeing […]
2025 in Review: Highlights from NASA in Silicon Valley
NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley continued to make strides in research, technology, engineering, science, and innovation this past year. Join us as we take a look back at some of the highlights from 2025. From Supercomputers to Wind Tunnels: NASA’s Road to Artemis II By combining the technologies of the NASA Advanced […]
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- Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate
- Artemis
- Artemis 2
- Artemis Accords
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- Humans in Space
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- ISS Research
- NASA Centers & Facilities
- Office of International and Interagency Relations (OIIR)
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NASA Ignites New Golden Age of Exploration, Innovation in 2025
With a second Trump Administration at the helm in 2025, NASA marked significant progress toward the Artemis II test flight early next year, which is the first crewed mission around the Moon in more than 50 years, as well as built upon its momentum toward a human return to the lunar surface in preparation to […]
NASA Works with Boeing, Other Collaborators Toward More Efficient Global Flights
Picture this: You’re just about done with a transoceanic flight, and the tracker in your seat-back screen shows you approaching your destination airport. And then … you notice your plane is moving away. Pretty far away. You approach again and again, only to realize you’re on a long, circling loop that can last an hour […]
NASA’s X-59 Completes First Flight, Prepares for More Flight Testing
After years of design, development, and testing, NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft took to the skies for the first time Oct. 28, marking a historic moment for the field of aeronautics research and the agency’s Quesst mission. The X-59, designed to fly at supersonic speeds and reduce the sound of loud sonic booms to […]