Abstract
Efforts to develop technologies and systems enabling hypersonic flight have been ongoing since the late 1940’s. During this time substantial advancements have been made in hypersonic air-breathing propulsion systems, high-temperature structural materials and thermal protection systems, and advanced vehicle design methods and tools. Taken together, these advancing technologies are moving mankind ever closer to achieving routine hypersonic flight, which will enable dramatically faster military missions and global transportation, and substantially more affordable space transportation.
This presentation will describe the key technical drivers, critical technologies and unique challenges of designing and developing vehicles to fly at hypersonic speed. Also described will be a vision for the future of hypersonic flight and what Boeing is doing to turn that vision into reality.
About the Speaker
Dr. Kevin G. Bowcutt is a Principal Senior Technical Fellow & Chief Scientist of Hypersonics for Boeing with 39 years of experience. He is an AIAA Fellow, a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. In 2021 he was selected by Texas A&M to be a Fellow of the Hagler Institute of Advanced Studies. He holds BS, MS and PhD degrees in aerospace engineering from the University of Maryland. Dr. Bowcutt is an internationally recognized expert in hypersonic aerodynamics, propulsion integration, and vehicle design and optimization. Notable accomplishments include developing the viscous-optimized hypersonic waverider, flight testing scramjets by launching them from a light gas gun, technically supporting the NASA X-43A scramjet flight test program, originating and optimizing the design of the X-51A scramjet-powered demo vehicle, helping the Space Shuttle Columbia accident investigation by simulating wing aero-thermal-structural failure, leading Boeing’s contributions to the HIFiRE international hypersonic flight experiment program, and leading Boeing’s hypersonic passenger airplane design investigation. In the spring semester of 2007 Dr. Bowcutt was a visiting professor at Princeton University’s Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department where he taught a course in hypersonic airplane design and is currently teaching the same course at Texas A&M. Dr. Bowcutt leads Boeing’s advanced design and technology development efforts for hypersonic missiles, airplanes and space-planes.
