The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is currently developing advanced technologies to form the foundation for the next breakthrough in civil aviation: an economically viable, environmentally acceptable supersonic transport. NASA's High Speed Research Program works in conjunction with industry to identify and address critical technological challenges to initiating commercial development of a practical supersonic transport. The key technical areas investigated are engine emissions, fuel efficiency, service life, and weight; community noise; aircraft range and payload; and weight and service life of airframe structures. Areas of particular interest include the ability of technologies under development to meet program goals related to noise, emissions, service life, weight, range, and payload. This book examines aircraft design requirements, assesses the program's planning and progress, and recommends changes that will help the program achieve its overall objectives.

High-speed flight is a major technological challenge for both commercial and business aviation. As a first step in revitalizing efforts by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to achieve the technology objective of high-speed air travel, NASA requested the National Research Council (NRC) to conduct a study that would identify approaches for achieving breakthroughs in research and technology for commercial supersonic aircraft. Commercial Supersonic Technology documents the results of that effort. This report describes technical areas where ongoing work should be continued and new focused research initiated to enable operational deployment of an environmentally acceptable, economically viable commercial aircraft capable of sustained supersonic flight, including flight over land, at speeds up to approximately Mach 2 in the next 25 years or less.