I. Introduction

This paper presents a different way of testing large hypersonic systems at exact flight enthalpies and conditions, up to flight altitudes of 150,000 ft, and up to flight speeds of Mach 12. The realization of a new hypersonic ground-test facility is not new; in fact, upgrades and new concepts are being developed.

Decades have passed since the advent of hypersonic wind tunnels; yet, as technologies near maturity to field hypersonic systems, ground-test facilities lack the ability to adequately simulate the expected flight environment these new vehicles will inhabit. As the velocities of these systems increase, the ability to duplicate the flight environment becomes increasingly more challenging. High temperatures and pressures are, ultimately, the limiting factors of the wind tunnel's capability. Various techniques have been exploited to enhance the capability vitiation, short-duration pulse, electric arcs yet only solve a small portion of the flight-dynamic problem. The flight sciences community has recognized these inadequacies and continues to struggle on how best to solve the problem. This is especially true in the aeropropulsive regime, where combustion processes tend not to be scalable and the question of nonindigenous constituents found in test medium as they compare to what is found in the flight environment remains. Without the means for adequate flight simulation, risk is increased that may compromise mission success. For high-energy conditions, that have not...