NASA Aeronautics

Official National Aeronautics and Space Administration Website

  • NASA Science Flights Venture to Improve Severe Winter Weather Warnings

    A team of NASA scientists deployed on an international mission designed to better understand severe winter storms. The North American Upstream Feature-Resolving and Tropopause Uncertainty Reconnaissance Experiment, or NURTURE, is an airborne campaign that uses a suite of remote sensing instruments to collect atmospheric data on winter weather with a goal of improving the models […]

  • 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 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 Jan. 12, the Crossflow Attenuated Natural Laminar Flow (CATNLF) test article reached speeds of approximately 144 mph, marking its […]

  • 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 Develops Blockchain Technology to Enhance Air Travel Safety and Security 

    Through a drone flight test at NASA’s Ames Research Center, researchers tested a blockchain-based system for protecting flight data. The system aims to keep air traffic management safe from disruption and protect data transferred between aircraft and ground stations from being intercepted or manipulated. 

  • 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 Armstrong Advances Flight Research and Innovation in 2025

    In 2025, NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, advanced work across aeronautics, Earth science, exploration technologies, and emerging aviation systems, reinforcing its role as one of the agency’s primary test sites for aeronautics research. From early concept evaluations to full flight test campaigns, teams enhanced measurement tools, refined safety systems, and generated data […]

  • 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 

    Editor’s Note: This article was updated on Friday, Dec. 19, 2025, to clarify the research done by ATM-X and ACERO. 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 […]

  • 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 […]