Defence Demand: the Capsule as a Hypersonic Test Bed
Why is the US military the most dependable buyer of manufacturing capsules, and how long will that last?
Chapter summary
because a capsule re-entering from orbit at above Mach 25 is a hypersonic flight test that is otherwise hard and expensive to arrange.
Key takeaways
- 1
The Air Force Research Laboratory has flown instruments on Varda capsules since W-2 (the OSPREE spectrometer measured radiation from the shock layer to validate re-entry models), and W-5 carried a US Navy payload under AFRL's Prometheus programme.
- 2
Hypersonic weapons and defences are a US priority (Study S4), and data on materials, plasma and guidance at re-entry speeds is scarce.
- 3
Setcoin scores re-entry test flights 94 of 100, the only item in the scorecard with proven, repeat demand.
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