The National Aerospace Plane is a program conceived in 1986 by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, to develop and demonstrate in flight, the technologies necessary for hypersonic flight including Single Stage To Orbit (SSTO) and cruise at sustained Mach numbers. In order to do this, a number of technologies, propulsion, structure aerodynamics, computational fluid dynamics, and materials must be matured to the point that hypersonic flight is practical. The progress made in the critical areas of materials and structures, highlighting advances in propulsion and computational fluid dynamics, made possible by high materials such as titanium aluminides and carbon-carbon, is shown. An examination of the utility of hypersonic flight both in terms of an SSTO mission and the commercial potential for hypersonic flight is given.


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    Title :

    Design Challenges for the National AERO-Space Plane


    Contributors:

    Publication date :

    1991


    Size :

    5 pages


    Type of media :

    Report


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English






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