Research & Engineering
Providing research and project support engineering to NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California.
Quick Facts
Research Focus Areas
Branches within the Research & Engineering directorate support the center's mission of advancing technology and science through flight.
Technology Development
Crafting Creative Solutions
Armstrong advances emerging technologies from concept development and experiment formulation to final testing.
Armstrong’s center chief technologist, in conjunction with NASA’s Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy, is responsible to provide data- and evidence-driven technology, policy, and strategy advice to NASA leadership.
Learn More About Armstrong Technology about Crafting Creative Solutions![](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/f4_p4_red_planedrop.jpg?w=1536)
Using the schlieren photography technique, NASA was able to capture the first air-to-air images of the interaction of shock waves from two supersonic aircraft flying in formation. These two U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School T-38 aircraft are flying in formation, approximately 30 feet apart, at supersonic speeds, or faster than the speed of sound, producing shockwaves that are typically heard on the ground as a sonic boom. The images, originally monochromatic and shown here as colorized composite images, were captured during a supersonic flight series flown, in part, to better understand how shocks interact with aircraft plumes, as well as with each other.
NASA