Load Bearing Thermal Protection Structure for Hypersonic Flight

NextGen Aeronautics is proposing to develop and demonstrate a lightweight, low cost, load bearing, thermally protective and high temperature survivable structure for hypersonic flight. Our technical approach is based on advancing the work performed under legacy programs and Phase I to a higher maturity level. Creating a single structural element with inherent insulating properties provides significant weight and space savings over current practices of utilizing hot structure and a separate thermal protection system (TPS). Very high temperature survivable hot structures are prohibitively expensive and weigh more than equivalent structures for low temperature use. NextGen has proposed an innovative structural solution that has a current TRL (after Phase 1) of 4-5. Besides being capable of fulfilling requirements for future hypersonic vehicle designs, the manufacturing cost for proposed structural parts will be significantly lower while improving desirable thermomechanical properties. The processes to ensure manufacturability, producibility, and quality are in place and are sufficient to produce a technology demonstrator. The sandwich structure is relatively easy to mechanically fasten to a structural frame because the cold side faceplate is at lower temperature at which thermal mismatch is not a prominent challenge. NextGen plans to test the technology on hypersonic vehicle in Phase II option.