Hypersonic ReEntry Deployable Glider Experiment (HEDGE): A CubeSAT Approach to Low-Cost Hypersonic Research; Hypersonic Transportation and How it Could Heal the World

Hypersonic technology is the future, and has the capacity to change the landscape of geopolitical relations as we see it. My capstone focuses on developing this technology further by creating a Hypersonic Reentry Deployable Glider Experiment (HEDGE) that will gather data at these speeds. The goal of this project is to find more time and money efficient methods of gathering hypersonic data than present available methods. My research paper focuses on this technology as well, and how the redirection of current hypersonic research away from weapons and towards transportation would improve deteriorating international relations. This is because hypersonic weapons development is seeing a race to establish fully operating hypersonic weapons systems, and this race threatens to destabilize the global balance of power even further.
My capstone project seeks to contribute to present hypersonic research by experimenting with new, cost efficient methods of hypersonic data acquisition. Should this mission be successful, the scale at which money could be saved is in the millions of dollars, making our capstone by far the cheapest hypersonic project in the United States. The way we will gather this data is by launching HEDGE as a 1U CubeSat from the NASA Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island via their RockSat X Sounding Rocket. Once launched from this rocket, HEDGE will deploy fins and turn into a reentry glider for appropriate aerodynamics and then reenter the atmosphere. Once reentering the atmosphere, gravity will accelerate the glide to mach 5 and data will be gathered as it moves at this speed. This data includes pressure, temperature, and velocity data that will be valuable for understanding the effects of hypersonic speeds. To end the experiment, the glider will splash down safely in the ocean to avoid any potential damage or harm.
As of right now, there are no explicit results from the launch, which is scheduled for August 2025. However, we have been presenting monthly check ins to NASA of our progress, and have been steadily approved and moved forward to the next step after each one. Presently, we are on our Full Mission Simulation Review (FMSR), which, should we pass, will clear us to officially be capable of launching from Wallops in August 2025. We have, however, been through extensive testing of many of the subsystems of our project, which include Structures and Integration, Software and Avionics, Power, Thermal, and Environment, and Altitude and Trajectory. Through this testing, we have manufactured a near fully complete version of our glider, made from steel and aluminum components, and with a tested deployment system using an elastic paracord. Additionally, our data acquisition methods have also been tested and confirmed to work, allowing us to relay the data collected by HEDGE to a satellite system which then relays the appropriate data back to us on the ground.
As mentioned earlier, hypersonic technology is mostly solely being used for weapons development at the moment. My research question, however, asks how would switching the focus of hypersonic research to hypersonic air transportation improve current international relations? This is significant because the current trend of hypersonic weapons development is only further destabilizing international relations by creating a race between countries for the next weapon of mass destruction. Through the Actor-Network Theory, I will analyze the impact hypersonic technology has on the world, as well as the impact the air travel/transportation has historically had on the world.
From my analysis of air travel and its prior effects on international relations, I concluded that switching the focus of hypersonic development would improve relations between countries due to having positive effects on important geopolitical values. These values include trade, diplomacy, immigration, and tourism, which are all very closely tied to international relations and have been shown to improve with more positive cooperation between two countries. Additionally, when air travel first developed into a common commercial transportation method, all these aspects saw benefits, and many countries became closer and more open to communication and cooperation than they had ever been before. With the development of hypersonic air travel, these effects could be seen once more as the scale and speed of air travel would increase exponentially. As such, a focus on hypersonic air travel over hypersonic weapons could be what is needed to help fix the deteriorating international relations we are presently seeing.

School of Engineering and Applied Science

Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering

Technical Advisor: Chris Goyne

STS Advisor: Pedro Francisco

Technical Team Members:
Sydney Bakir
Franklin Escobar
Benjamin Petsopoulos
Cole Bixby
Nathan Kaczka
Cade Shaw
Max Cristinzio
Jason Morefield
Michael Wennemer
Luke Dropulic
Zachary Morris
Caleb White
Arooj Nasir