What We do

The High-Speed Flight (HSF) project develops technologies that make high-speed, airbreathing, commercial flight possible from Mach 1 to Mach 5 and above.

HSF creates tools, technologies, and knowledge that will help eliminate today’s technical barriers to practical supersonic flight, most notably sonic boom. The project supports the X-59 quiet supersonic vehicle testing by gathering acoustic data and validating tools that predict in-flight sonic booms.

HSF conducts fundamental and applied research that explores key challenges in reusable, hypersonic flight technology.

Future Applications

The project evaluates the potential for future commercial hypersonic vehicles, including reusable access to space and commercial point-to-point missions.

Unique Hypersonic Facilities and Expertise

NASA maintains unique facilities, laboratories, and subject matter experts who investigate fundamental and applied research areas to solve the challenges of hypersonic flight. The High-Speed Flight project coordinates closely with partners in industry, academia, and other government agencies to leverage relevant data sets to validate computational models. These partners also utilize NASA expertise, facilities, and computational tools. Partnerships are critical to advancing the state of the art in hypersonic flight.

Contact the High-Speed Flight Project by email at larc-htp-inquiries@mail.nasa.gov