The U.S. currently has several large, expensive, overburdened hypersonic wind tunnel and propulsion test facilities. Other facilities are coming, but they are also large, and expensive. Smaller facilities exist, but are overburdened or are limited in capability. However, there is more research-scale R&D needed than the current and planned test facilities can provide. The current major test requirement gaps in pursuing hypersonic flight are variable Mach number and confirmation of vitiated air test data with clean air data. In terms of direct connect facilities, most high temperature facilities are large. The smallest cells have a total temperature range below Mach 3. There is a lack of small missile-scale direct connect facilities which can test at Mach 4-7+ flight enthalpy. GoHypersonic Incorporated proposes to upgrade their existing clean air commercial wind tunnel test facility to enable relevant flight enthalpy flow (Mach 4-7+) for developing hypersonic vehicle with military utility based on Air Force (AF) End-user needs. This will provide defense customers and programs with an affordable, reliable option for high speed wind tunnel testing which is necessary to mitigate scheduling bottlenecks due to facility availability as our nation continues to develop hypersonic vehicles with military.
