NASA: Hypersonics Project

Research in the Hypersonics Project focuses on solving some of the most difficult challenges in hypersonic flight.
This includes;

• the development of materials for airframe and airbreathing propulsion applications that can withstand severe temperatures;
• the development of predictive models for compressible flow, turbulence, heating, ablation, and combustion; 
• the creation of advanced control techniques for vehicles that fly in the hypersonic flow regime; and 
• the generation of new experimental techniques that can be used to validate our theoretical and computational models.

In addition, the Project will work toward airbreathing propulsion systems that integrate high-speed turbine engines and scramjets, and develop integrated physics-based design tools that simultaneously design the airframe and propulsion systems.

Technology developed under the Hypersonics Project may also help the Department of Defense achieve its goal of global range at high speeds with persistence and significant payload.

The Hypersonics Project focuses on the development and validation of enabling foundational tools and technologies for two hypersonic system classes: Reusable Airbreathing Launch Vehicles (RALV), and Planetary Atmospheric Entry Systems (PAES), a large vehicle focused on transporting humans and scientific payloads to and from Mars.

There is a critical need for dramatic improvements in our current capability to enable the landing of large payloads with or without humans safely on Mars as part of NASA’s Space Exploration Initiative.