Researchers Use Giant Gun to Test Hypersonic Flight

The future of hypersonic flight is exciting.Companies currently building experimental craft are shooting for Mach 1.5 to Mach 2. Boom Supersonic, for example, is now assembling the XB-1 supersonic demonstrator aircraft, which could reach Mach-2.2. However, we need to be ready for the next wave of aircraft that will reach Mach 10 -- that's ten times the speed of sound or 7,672 mph.Traveling Mach 10, and faster, will present some challenges, so researchers need to study how particular objects and materials will respond to those speeds. So, the engineers at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas, used a giant gun. According to the researchers, when an object reaches above Mach 5, the air chemically decomposes around the craft. Some points behind the shockwave get hotter than the surface of the sun. The object typically heats up, melts, and chemically reacts with the air.Unfortunately, it's impossible to recreate all of these conditions in a wind tunnel, so the researchers used a two-stage light gas gun system to simulate hypersonic flight conditions. The gun can generate velocities up to 15,660 mph. The system itself is 72 feet long and is normally used to study ballistics.Right now, the engineers are shooting objects at up to Mach 15 to see how they heat up, melt, and chemically react.The work could one day help create the hypersonic aircraft of the future by addressing the material challenges now. Sidenote: At 15,660 mph, that's around the world in just over 1.5 hours.