Matthew Redifer is an aerospace and electrical engineer with more than 34 years of experience developing advanced flight systems, embedded electronics, and autonomous technologies.
During a 26-year career at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center, he led the design, integration, and flight testing of experimental aircraft, spacecraft, avionics, and autonomous systems spanning electric propulsion, hypersonics, remote sensing, and advanced autonomy.
Most recently, Redifer served as Deputy Project Manager for Integration on NASA's X-59 QueSST program, directing aircraft production, integration, and flight test activities at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works. He coordinated NASA and contractor engineering teams while helping resolve complex technical, schedule, safety, and cybersecurity challenges. For his leadership on the program, NASA awarded him the Exceptional Achievement Medal.
Earlier, as Chief Engineer for the X-57 Maxwell project, he led multidisciplinary engineering teams developing NASA's first all-electric X-plane. Following a major battery test failure, he helped lead the redesign of the aircraft's energy storage system, contributing to technologies later commercialized for electric aviation. He also worked directly on FPGA-based motor control systems and oversaw testing of the aircraft's composite wing and distributed electric propulsion system.
Redifer also designed the Autopilot Interface Computer for the UAVSAR airborne radar platform, a precision autopilot system developed for NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory that continues to support Earth science research missions. He received NASA's Exceptional Service Medal for his contributions to UAVSAR and related flight research programs.
Earlier in his career, he led flight systems integration for the X-43 Hyper-X program, which achieved the world's first successful air-breathing hypersonic flights at Mach 7 and Mach 10. Throughout his NASA career, he developed avionics, embedded systems, and autonomous flight architectures for research aircraft, spacecraft, and unmanned aerial systems, including work supporting the Orion Crew Module Pad Abort-1 test program.
After retiring from NASA in 2025, Redifer turned his full attention to Practical Embedded, where he combines decades of aerospace engineering experience with his passion for embedded systems. Through Practical Embedded, he develops embedded hardware, firmware, software applications, and educational resources that help engineers and makers build reliable embedded products.
Redifer holds a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering with honors from California State University, Northridge, and a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Southern California. He has authored numerous technical publications in avionics, electric propulsion, and aerospace systems engineering.
