Exploring the Potential and Challenges of Supersonic Technology for Commercial and Educational Use: Revolutionizing Air Travel and Scientific Research

My thesis will address a Hypersonic ReEntry Glide Vehicle experiment (HEDGE) for my technical project and history, uses, and impacts of supersonic aircrafts for my STS thesis. These two topics are closely related because of both going faster than the speed of sound, but HEDGE is defined to be a spacecraft in orbit then reentering in the atmosphere, while my STS portion focuses aircrafts on the avionic side staying in the atmosphere. The motivation for my technical project was to gain knowledge about how work is done within industry and to be a part of a multiyear project. While motivation for the STS portion was based on the questions: why do we care about supersonics and why is the aerospace industry still trying to use them?

School of Engineering and Applied Science

Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering

Technical Advisor: Chris Goyne

STS Advisor: MC Forelle