Non-ablative, Weather Resistant, Next-Generation Re-entry Nosetip Materials

The National Defense Strategy (NDS) identifies four top-level defense priorities to strengthen deterrence. One of these priorities is to “… deter aggression and be prepared to prevail in conflict when necessary”. One aspect of the strategy is “… to develop critical enabling capabilities … to maintain an edge in combat credibility and deterrence”. This proposal addresses the advancement and modernization of technologies to keep pace with our adversaries in hypersonic weapons and delivery systems, with potential applications in the aircraft industry. Specifically, this proposal addresses innovative material technologies to increase hypersonic vehicle flight survivability in extreme aerothermal and weather environment. The benefit of a successful outcome is the increase in launch opportunity, increased mission reliability, and potential to reduce inventory cost in the field with an increased probability of arrival.  The technical issue being addressed in this proposal is the application of ablative materials to hypersonic vehicle nosetips. While ablative materials manage thermal loads, their inherent loss of material mass changes the outer mold line. This is further exacerbated with aerodynamic shear pulling loosened or weakened material from the ablating surfaces while mechanical impact erosion from precipitation or fratricide causes further mass loss. The total recession of the nosetip influences the center of pressure and center of gravity, which has an impact on the stability and control of the vehicle.  Applied Technology Solutions, Inc. is proposing that a non-ablative material has been identified as a candidate for reentry nosetips with the potential to open windows of launch opportunity in weather. The scope of the proposed project includes: 1) material fabrication, 2) ground testing, and 3) modeling and simulation (M&S). The fabrication effort will include manufacture of ground test articles and ground test fixtures. Given customer input, a ground test facility will be selected. This task will also include test article pre- and post-test inspection, ground test matrix design, ground test coordination and execution. The M&S activity will support ground test pre-test predictions and trade study execution where the trade study output will be used to quantify the UHTC weather resistance in terms of real-world weather.  The D2P2 effort will set the stage for transition of the proposed to our prime partners. These partners are interested in the weather modeling capabilities as well as the material cross-over applications which include all-weather leading edges, high-temperature attachments, nozzles for air-breathing propulsion, and solid rocket motor throats for high-divert (thrust-vector control and dual pulse) applications.