NASA Aims to Advance Hypersonic Flight Testing with New Awards 

As NASA works with the U.S. Air Force to explore commercial supersonic technologies, the agency also looks forward to an era of even faster flight – that of vehicles capable of flying hypersonicly, or five times the speed of sound. And to further this vision, NASA has awarded two awards for studies on vehicle concepts.

Some types of vehicles – like rockets – reach hypersonic speeds by carrying stores of oxygen to allow their fuel to burn, instead of using ambient air. In contrast, NASA’s Hypersonic Technology Project aims to advance “air breathing,” reusable hypersonic aircraft, which suck in air during flight, enabling much longer sustained cruise at hypersonic speeds.

Given the commercial interest in finding applications for hypersonic air-breathing vehicles, the Hypersonic Technology Project seeks to find ways to facilitate testing and development. Two contracts awarded by the project in August aim to help provide an affordable bridge between ground and flight hypersonic testing.

“Through these awards, NASA will collaborate with the commercial hypersonics industry to identify new ways to evaluate technologies through flight testing while addressing the challenges of reusable, routine, air-breathing hypersonic flight,” said Dr. Nateri Madavan, director of NASA’s Advanced Air Vehicles program.

The new awards went to SpaceWorks Enterprises, of Atlanta, Georgia, and Stratolaunch, of Mojave, California, both of which will support a six-month NASA study exploring how current vehicles could be modified to meet the need for reusable, high-throughput, affordable flight test capabilities. SpaceWorks, which received $500,000, will focus on the X-60 platform. Stratolaunch, which received $1.2 million, will focus on its Talon-A platform.

Through these awards, NASA wants industry to help define the capabilities needed to meet flight test requirements. The work could also support a future NASA Making Advances in Commercial Hypersonics (MACH) project focused on advancing commercial hypersonic vehicles through the development of infrastructure such as cost estimates and schedule requirements for a potential flight vehicle.

NASA is advancing U.S. hypersonic research through the Hypersonic Technology Project under the agency’s Advanced Air Vehicles program. NASA intends that these projects will help pave the way for revolutionary advances in fundamental hypersonic air-breathing technologies.