Matthew Redifer is an aerospace engineer with more than 33 years of experience in advanced flight systems, including 26 years at NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center. He has led the design, integration, and flight testing of experimental aircraft, autonomous systems, avionics, and spacecraft programs 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 test activities at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works. He managed coordination between NASA and contractor teams while helping resolve complex technical, schedule, safety, and cybersecurity challenges. NASA awarded him the Exceptional Achievement Medal for his leadership on the project.
Earlier, as Chief Engineer for the X-57 Maxwell project, he led multidisciplinary engineering teams developing NASA’s first all-electric X-plane. He helped redesign the aircraft’s battery system after a major test failure, contributing to technology later commercialized for electric aviation. He also worked directly on the aircraft’s FPGA-based motor control systems and oversaw testing of the composite wing and propulsion systems.
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 today. NASA awarded him the Exceptional Service Medal for his contributions to UAVSAR and related flight research programs.
In addition, he led flight systems integration for the X-43 Hyper-X program, which achieved the first successful air-breathing hypersonic flights at Mach 7 and Mach 10. Across his career, he developed avionics, embedded systems, and autonomous flight architectures for NASA research aircraft, spacecraft, and UAV platforms, including work supporting the Orion Crew Module Pad Abort-1 test program.
Redifer retired from NASA in 2025 and founded Practical Embedded, a company focused on embedded systems development and advanced avionics engineering.
He holds a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering with honors from California State University, Northridge and a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering from University of Southern California. He has authored numerous technical publications in avionics, electric propulsion, and aerospace systems engineering.
