General Applied Science Laboratory

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General Applied Science Laboratory (GASL) is an American aerospace company, known as a pioneer of hypersonic propulsion. [1]

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Description

General Applied Science Laboratory was founded in 1956 by Antonio Ferri [1] and became a developer and testing house for advanced propulsion systems. Another early researcher was Theodore von Kármán. [2] [3] Its expertise in hypersonic harsh environments has allowed it to research and test materials and methods for extreme high temperatures as well as combustion systems relevant to current power generation and clean energy. The company is now based in Ronkonkoma, New York. [4]

In 1965, GASL became a subsidiary of The Marquardt Corporation of Van Nuys, California. [5] At that time the company was located in Westbury, Long Island, New York. GASL also had an electronics division with two locations in Syosset, Long Island. Part of the electronics operation was the manufacture of Janus doppler navigation devices for docking large ships. GASL also manufactured oscilloscopes and produced very advanced devices for laboratory use.

The electronic products operations were made part of Marquardt Industrial Products Company (MIPCO), headquartered in Pomona, California, in 1967. [6] The Janus products were ultimately transferred to Van Nuys, California, and formed a division named "Marquardt Marine Products", which was sold to Ametek in 1971. [7]

In 1967, Antonio Ferri resigned as President of GASL and Louis M. Nucci was elected president. [8] Antonio Ferri became the Vincent Astor Professor of Aerospace Sciences at New York University.

The company participated in the National Aero-Space Plane (X-30) and NASA X-43 programs in the 1990s. [1] [3] GASL has a propulsion and combustion test complex with seven high pressure, high temperature test cells, and NASA's Hypersonic Pulse Facility (HYPULSE). [9]

GASL, Inc. was founded in 1956 as Gruen Applied Science Laboratories, Inc. Later in 1958 it changed its name to General Applied Science Laboratories, Inc. and subsequently changed its name to GASL, Inc. in 1995. On November 20, 2003, Alliant Techsystems (ATK) acquired GASL from Allied Aerospace. [10] [11]

GASL developed Scramjet technology for propulsion such as the GASL Projectile fired in 2001. [12] [13]

GASL upgraded the NASA-HYPULSE test facility to simulate Mach 7 and Mach 10 flight speeds. [9]

In January 2010, ATK's Center for Energy and Aerospace Innovation (CEAI) was dedicated at GASL to develop clean energy technologies. [14] One project, funded by the US Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) uses experience from hypersonic wind tunnel tests to improve CO2 capture from power plants. [15] [16] Another 2010 project uses GASL expertise in managing hydrogen to develop storage systems for hydrogen vehicles. [17]

In May 2012, The Hypersonic International Flight Research Experimentation (HIFiRE), Flight 2 Payload System, designed and built by the GASL team at ATK (NYSE: ATK), executed a successful test flight achieving Mach 8.5 and acquiring the first-ever data on dual-mode-to-scramjet propulsion transition. [18]

Markets

GASL provides research, engineering and testing to government and businesses in 12 primary areas:

  • Hypersonic and propulsion systems testing
  • Combustion systems and components testing
  • High shear testing
  • High temperature material testing (Up to 4350F and 1500 psi)
  • Simulated blast testing (Shock Wave Tube)
  • Energy systems integration and testing
  • Gasification systems and components
  • Fuel reforming systems
  • Hydrogen based energy systems
  • Light weight energy storage devices
  • MEMS sensors for harsh environments
  • Cooling, Micro-cooling and fuel injected cooling systems

Related Research Articles

A pulse detonation engine (PDE) is a type of propulsion system that uses detonation waves to combust the fuel and oxidizer mixture. The engine is pulsed because the mixture must be renewed in the combustion chamber between each detonation wave and the next. Theoretically, a PDE can operate from subsonic up to a hypersonic flight speed of roughly Mach 5. An ideal PDE design can have a thermodynamic efficiency higher than other designs like turbojets and turbofans because a detonation wave rapidly compresses the mixture and adds heat at constant volume. Consequently, moving parts like compressor spools are not necessarily required in the engine, which could significantly reduce overall weight and cost. PDEs have been considered for propulsion since 1940. Key issues for further development include fast and efficient mixing of the fuel and oxidizer, the prevention of autoignition, and integration with an inlet and nozzle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scramjet</span> Jet engine where combustion takes place in supersonic airflow

A scramjet is a variant of a ramjet airbreathing jet engine in which combustion takes place in supersonic airflow. As in ramjets, a scramjet relies on high vehicle speed to compress the incoming air forcefully before combustion, but whereas a ramjet decelerates the air to subsonic velocities before combustion using shock cones, a scramjet has no shock cone and slows the airflow using shockwaves produced by its ignition source in place of a shock cone. This allows the scramjet to operate efficiently at extremely high speeds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marquardt Corporation</span> Historical manufacturer of ramjet engines

Marquardt Corporation was an aeronautical engineering firm started in 1944 as ‘’’Marquardt Aircraft Company’’’ and initially dedicated almost entirely to the development of the ramjet engine. Marquardt designs were developed from the mid-1940s into the early 1960s, but as the ramjet disappeared from military usage, the company turned to other fields.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NASA X-43</span> Unmanned US experimental supersonic aircraft, 1991-2000

The NASA X-43 was an experimental unmanned hypersonic aircraft with multiple planned scale variations meant to test various aspects of hypersonic flight. It was part of the X-plane series and specifically of NASA's Hyper-X program. It set several airspeed records for jet aircraft. The X-43 is the fastest jet-powered aircraft on record at approximately Mach 9.6.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rockwell X-30</span> US NASA & DOD hypersonic project 1986-1993

The Rockwell X-30 was an advanced technology demonstrator project for the National Aero-Space Plane (NASP), part of a United States project to create a single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) spacecraft and passenger spaceliner. Started in 1986, it was cancelled in the early 1990s before a prototype was completed, although much development work in advanced materials and aerospace design was completed. While a goal of a future NASP was a passenger liner capable of two-hour flights from Washington to Tokyo, the X-30 was planned for a crew of two and oriented towards testing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aerospaceplane</span>

The US Air Force's Aerospaceplane was a basic research project led by Weldon Worth at the Wright-Patterson AFB concerning the design of future recoverable spaceplanes. The effort was started in 1957 as a result of the USAF official SR-89774 for a reusable spaceplane. By 1959 this work was more known as the Recoverable Orbital Launch System (ROLS). It encompassed a variety of concepts, designs and research projects from 1958, but was cancelled as impractical in 1963.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boeing X-51 Waverider</span> Unmanned hypersonic experimental aircraft

The Boeing X-51 Waverider is an unmanned research scramjet experimental aircraft for hypersonic flight at Mach 5 and an altitude of 70,000 feet (21,000 m). The aircraft was designated X-51 in 2005. It completed its first powered hypersonic flight on 26 May 2010. After two unsuccessful test flights, the X-51 completed a flight of over six minutes and reached speeds of over Mach 5 for 210 seconds on 1 May 2013 for the longest duration powered hypersonic flight.

Scramjet programs refers to research and testing programs for the development of supersonic combustion ramjets, known as scramjets. This list provides a short overview of national and international collaborations, and civilian and military programs. The USA, Russia, India, and China (2014), have succeeded at developing scramjet technologies.

The Hy-V Scramjet Flight Experiment is a research project being led by the University of Virginia, the goal of which is to better understand dual-mode scramjet combustion by analyzing and comparing wind tunnel and flight data. The work is being conducted with industrial, academic and government collaborators.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hypersonic flight</span> Flight at altitudes lower than 90km and at speeds above Mach 5

Hypersonic flight is flight through the atmosphere below altitudes of about 90 km at speeds greater than Mach 5, a speed where dissociation of air begins to become significant and high heat loads exist. Speeds of Mach 25+ have been achieved below the thermosphere as of 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ayaks</span>

The Ayaks is a hypersonic waverider aircraft program started in the Soviet Union and currently under development by the Hypersonic Systems Research Institute (HSRI) of Leninets Holding Company in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

In aeronautics, expansion and shock tunnels are aerodynamic testing facilities with a specific interest in high speeds and high temperature testing. Shock tunnels use steady flow nozzle expansion whereas expansion tunnels use unsteady expansion with higher enthalpy, or thermal energy. In both cases the gases are compressed and heated until the gases are released, expanding rapidly down the expansion chamber. The tunnels reach speeds from Mach 3 to Mach 30 to create testing conditions that simulate hypersonic to re-entry flight. These tunnels are used by military and government agencies to test hypersonic vehicles that undergo a variety of natural phenomenon that occur during hypersonic flight.

HyShot is a research project of The University of Queensland, Australia Centre for Hypersonics, to demonstrate the possibility of supersonic combustion under flight conditions using two scramjet engines, one designed by The University of Queensland and one designed by QinetiQ.

Frederick Stucky Billig was a pioneer in the development of scramjet propulsion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle</span> Hypersonic demonstration aircraft

The HSTDV is an unmanned scramjet demonstration aircraft for hypersonic speed flight. It is being developed as a carrier vehicle for hypersonic and long-range cruise missiles, and will have multiple civilian applications including the launching of small satellites at low cost. The HSTDV program is being run by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aerodynamic and Propulsion Test Unit</span> Military unit

AEDC Aerodynamic and Propulsion Test Unit (APTU) is a blowdown hypersonic wind tunnel driven by a combustion air heater (CAH). The facility is owned by the United States Air Force and operated by Aerospace Testing Alliance.

A shock-induced combustion ramjet engine (abbreviated as shcramjet; also called oblique detonation wave engine; also called standing oblique detonation ramjet (sodramjet); or simply referred to as shock-ramjet engine) is a concept of air-breathing ramjet engine, proposed to be used for hypersonic and/or single-stage-to-orbit propulsion applications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lockheed Martin SR-72</span> US Air Force hypersonic aircraft concept

The Lockheed Martin SR-72, colloquially referred to as "Son of Blackbird", is an American hypersonic UAV concept intended for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) proposed privately in 2013 by Lockheed Martin as a successor to the retired Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. The company expected an SR-72 test vehicle could fly by 2025.

William Julius D. ("Bill") Escher was an aerospace engineer involved in the early development of the United States rocket programs and long time aerospace industry visionary. He was an internationally recognized expert in the field of high-speed airbreathing propulsion and hypersonic flight. He was a long been a proponent of combined-cycle propulsion systems for space access and his visionary 'Synerjet' concept is industry recognized. He wrote over a hundred technical papers on this subject and others such as hydrogen energy and lunar exploration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kholod</span> Soviet hypersonic rocket project

Kholod (Холод) is an experimental Russian rocket project. The hypersonic rocket uses a scramjet engine and was created to exceed Mach 6+ The prototype consists of a Soyuz TMKB with liquid hydrogen and modified fillings from the SA-5 Gammon missiles. The entire rocket, including the four booster rockets, is 12 metres (39 ft) long and 750 millimetres (30 in) in diameter. The project led to other Russian hypersonic rockets like the Igla rocket craft and the Yu-71 boost-glide warhead.

References

  1. 1 2 3 T. A. Heppenheimer (September 2007). Facing The Heat Barrier: A History of Hypersonics (PDF). National Aeronautics and Space Administration. pp. 103, 115, 198, 270, 277. Retrieved August 13, 2011.
  2. ↑ Paul A. Libby (October 9, 1995). "Observations Concerning Supersonic Compustion". IUTAM Symposium on Combustion in Supersonic Flows. Poitiers, France: 2. ISBN   978-0-7923-4313-4.
  3. 1 2 "Overview of ATK Micro-Technologies for Aerospeace Applications" (PDF). Micro Tech Conference presentation. June 16, 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 3, 2016. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
  4. ↑ "Research: Ronkonkoma company gets clean-energy grant". Newsday. May 5, 2010. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
  5. ↑ "Shareholders OK Purchase by Marquardt", Los Angeles, California, The Los Angeles Times, April 1, 1965, Page 63
  6. ↑ "Marquardt Organizes New Group", Van Nuys, California, The Valley Times, January 20, 1967, Page 13
  7. ↑ "Ametek Completes Acquisition", Paoli, Pennsylvania, The Wall Street Journal, June 29, 1971, Page 27
  8. ↑ "Marquardt Subsidiary Elects New President", Van Nuys, California, The Valley Times, April 13, 1967, Page 8
  9. 1 2 Bakos, R. J.; Tsai, C.-Y.; Rogers, R. C.; Shih, A. T. (1999). The Mach 10 Component of NASA's Hyper-X Ground Test Program. Langley Research Center. CiteSeerX   10.1.1.30.7732 .
  10. ↑ Benno Groeneveld (November 24, 2003). "ATK buys hypersonic flight businesses". Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal. Retrieved August 13, 2011.
  11. ↑ "ATK Acquires Hypersonic Flight Sectors From Allied Aerospace". Defense Daily. December 1, 2003. Retrieved August 13, 2011.
  12. ↑ David Schneider (November–December 2002). "A Burning Question". American Scientist. Retrieved August 13, 2011.
  13. ↑ "Hypersonic Scramjet Projectile Flys In Missile Test". Space Daily. September 4, 2001. Retrieved August 13, 2011.
  14. ↑ "ATK Dedicates Innovation Center for Energy and Aerospace at Ronkonkoma, New York". News release. PR Newswire. January 6, 2010. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
  15. ↑ "Rep. Israel & ATK Announce $1 Million Federal Award for Innovative Energy Research at Ronkonkoma Facility". Rep. Israel, House of Representatives News. May 4, 2010. Archived from the original on October 9, 2011. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
  16. ↑ "ARPA-E Carbon Capture funding". EP Overviews Publishing. May 5, 2010. Archived from the original on March 30, 2012. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
  17. ↑ "Toro Partners with ATK to Develop Fuel Cell Powered Utility Vehicles". Business Wire news release. October 29, 2010. Archived from the original on July 11, 2011. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
  18. ↑ "HIFiRE Scramjet Research Flight Will Advance Hypersonic Tecgnology". News release. NASA Langley Research Center. May 11, 2012. Retrieved June 11, 2012.

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