University of Virginia researchers are hoping that a test flight at a NASA facility will help them better formulate techniques to evaluate designs for scramjets, a cutting-edge technology that uses compressed air to reach speeds many times faster than that of sound.
In 2012, a UVa scramjet will be part of a test flight at the NASA-Wallops Flight Facility on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. On Monday, UVa unveiled a model of the rocket that will be sent up.
The Department of Defense is underwriting the bulk of the project, and the research will help refine the way that testers evaluate scramjet engine designs.
Sensors will measure the engine’s performance, and the data will then be sent back to the ground. There will be no effort to recover the rocket, which will be allowed to fall into the sea. Researchers will then be able to figure out how wind-tunnel simulations compare to real-world conditions.
Ultimately, the practical applications for scramjets could be high-speed airplanes or spacecraft capable of taking off from a runway, said professor Christopher P. Goyne, director of UVa’s Aerospace Research Laboratory.
“I’ve always liked the idea of high-speed flight,” said fourth-year Ray Lee, one of the students involved in the project.
The model unveiled Monday took more than a year to put together, students said. Among the delays: getting the design declassified and simplifying the actual test setup to allow for the creation of a model.
Fourth-year student Ami Patel said the project was also a good way to network with students, graduate students and industry professionals.
The student-participation aspect of the program is being carried out in collaboration with the Virginia Space Grant Consortium, NASA, Virginia Tech, Aerojet, Alliant Techsystems Inc. and the Department of Defense.
Students from the Southern Virginia Higher Education Center in South Boston helped build the model displayed Monday.
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