SpaceWorks Enterprises X-60. © SpaceWorks
NASA is preparing for a faster future: hypersonic travel, or speeds of more than five times the speed of sound.
The agency has awarded SpaceWorks Enterprises a contract to support research using the company’s X-60 platform.
While NASA is already working with U.S. aviation partners on commercial supersonic flight, to move this forward, it has awarded two studies focused on new hypersonic vehicle concepts.
Some vehicles, such as rockets, reach hypersonic speeds by carrying their own oxygen so their engines can burn fuel. NASA’s Hypersonic Technology Project, however, is focused on a different approach: reusable, air-breathing hypersonic aircraft. These vehicles take in oxygen from the air as they fly, making it possible to cruise at hypersonic speeds for much longer periods.
As interest grows in commercial uses for air-breathing hypersonic aircraft, NASA is working to make testing and development faster and more affordable. Two contracts awarded in August aim to bridge the gap between ground testing and real flight testing, helping bring hypersonic vehicles closer to reality.
“With these awards, NASA will collaborate with the commercial hypersonics industry to identify new ways to evaluate technologies through flight tests while we address the challenges of reusable, routine, airbreathing, hypersonic flight,” said Dr. Nateri Madavan, director of NASA’s Advanced Air Vehicles Program.
Leave A Comment