Elements of NASA's high-speed research program

A brief description is given of the history of supersonic transport research, of feasibility studies commissioned by NASA in 1986, and of the NASA High-Speed Research Program which is an outgrowth of those feasibility studies. The paper places particular emphasis on airport and community-noise reduction through advanced takeoff procedures and high-lift devices and sonic-boom reduction through configuration design. Sonic-boom acceptability studies and atmospheric propagation methods are also discussed.