An Overview of the NASA FAP Hypersonics Project Airbreathing Propulsion Research

The propulsion research portfolio of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Fundamental Aeronautics Program Hypersonics Project encompasses a significant number of technical tasks that are aligned to achieve mastery and intellectual stewardship of the core competencies in the hypersonic-flight regime. An overall coordinated programmatic and technical effort has been structured to advance the state-of-the-art, via both experimental and analytical efforts. A subset of the entire hypersonics propulsion research portfolio is presented in this overview paper. To this end, two programmatic research disciplines are discussed; namely, (1) the Propulsion Discipline, including three associated research elements: the X-51A partnership, the HIFiRE-2 partnership, and the Durable Combustor Rig, and (2) the Turbine-Based Combine Cycle Discipline, including three associated research elements: the Combined Cycle Engine Large Scale Inlet Mode Transition Experiment, the small-scale Inlet Mode Transition Experiment, and the High-Mach Fan Rig.