While much of the research into hypersonic travel has been devoted to military applications, the intriguing possibility exists to put the technology to commercial use.
Bernd Chudoba, an academic and engineer at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA), is partnering with NASA to conduct a feasibility study to determine how current technology could be used to enable affordable hypersonic travel. The research will support NASA’s Hypersonic Technology Project.
Aircraft have to rely on different tools when traveling at hypersonic speeds. A majority of modern hypersonic jet designs—such as those manufactured by Boeing, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency and Stratofly—rely on a ramjet, which uses the plane’s forward motion to compress air. A commercial turbofan engine wouldn’t be effective at hypersonic speeds because the fan blades would disintegrate. Instead, with hypersonic jets, the air is compressed by the shape of the plane itself. In addition, as airplanes go faster, the ratio of lift–to-drag drops, making it harder to keep the aircraft aloft. Also, a conventional tail is less effective at such speeds because the low pressure at hypersonic speeds undermines the aircraft’s steering and stabilizing functions.
The research will also include an aircraft design component that will help engineers and designers to select craft configurations and technologies that could be used for passenger hypersonic travel.
“This project will produce a model of the solutions that are pragmatically out there, primarily based on industry capability we already have on the shelf,” said Chudoba.
The project will feature a two-step process. First, Chudoba and his team will identify what’s already out there in terms of technologies and industry capability—tools that could already be used to enable hypersonic passenger travel.
Once that step is finished, the researchers will engage in technology forecasting that would match the minimum required current technologies with the industrial know-how to determine the best way to get those technologies to the manufacturing stage.
Some of the promising technologies that Chudoba will explore include engine configurations capable of powering the aircraft from the ground to hypersonic speeds in the air, artificial intelligence and nanotechnology. The researchers will also assess how strategic investments in the right technologies could boost returns when deployed in a hypersonic vehicle.
“Hypersonic vehicles are an exciting frontier in aerospace engineering, and Dr. Chudoba continues to make unique contributions to the knowledge base in this challenging field,” said Erian Armanios, chair of UTA’s Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department.
Being able to fly from New York to Tokyo in two hours, at Mach 5 speeds, would revolutionize the way people travel—and the team of engineers at the University of Texas at Arlington will assess just how close we are to making hypersonic passenger travel a reality.
Read more about hypersonic technologies in Is China’s Reusable Hypersonic Space Launcher Actually a Weapon?.