Abstract
Even the most carefully engineered systems in the world mean nothing if the people who it serves do not believe in it. This technical capstone thesis documents the design of a Hypersonic Low-Altitude Research Projectile (Hyper-LARP), a hypersonic glide vehicle designed for the 2025 Undergraduate Hypersonic Flight Design Competition. The competition is made for nationwide universities to create an unpowered projectile optimized for maximum range at low altitudes. The STS research paper examines how news media coverage of aviation accidents influences public trust in aerospace technology. The paper was motivated by the disconnect between how safe commercial aviation is and how dangerous the public tends to believe it to be. Both projects relate to the world of aerospace and how innovation is based on more than just the engineer behind it. Evolving technologies, such as aviation, require a level of trust from the public and those designing it.
Our capstone project focused on designing an unpowered hypersonic projectile that could maximize range while remaining cost-effective and easy to manufacture. The guidelines were set as part of the 2025 Undergraduate Hypersonic Flight Design Competition, which challenged nationwide, university teams to develop a low-altitude hypersonic vehicle under certain performance constraints. To address this, our team used a range of engineering tools and software including computational fluid dynamics (CFD) with ANSYS Fluent, structural and thermal analysis with SolidWorks, and trajectory modeling using NASA OTIS Version 5.0. We began with a trade study comparing three common hypersonic vehicle configurations and selected a winged glide design based on its balance of aerodynamic performance and manufacturability. Resulting CFD data from a parameterized CAD created a surrogate model that enabled us to refine key design variables and improve overall efficiency.
The results showed that an unpowered hypersonic projectile can achieve strong aerodynamic performance while maintaining structural integrity and reasonable cost. The optimized design of our Hyper-Larp vehicle was shown to be stable on all three axes and able to generate sufficient lift under the given flight conditions. In addition, the structural and thermal analyses confirmed that the vehicle can withstand the loads and heating associated with hypersonic flight without exceeding material limits. Finally, our trajectory model predicted a maximum range of 100.4 kilometers. This project showed this it is possible to design an unpowered hypersonic vehicle that performs well while still being practical to build.
The STS paper asks why the public fears flying so much more than safety data suggest they should, and whether the media is responsible for it. This question matters because misplaced fear of aviation comes with consequences, ranging from how people make travel decisions to how policymakers respond after accidents. The paper uses the Social Construction of Technology framework and Cultivation Theory to analyze how repeated media exposure to aviation accident coverage gradually shaped public perception. Additionally, it draws from existing academic research in media framing and risk perception.
The evidence shows that news coverage of aviation accidents tends to assign blame to pilots or mechanical failure before investigations are complete, gives dramatic and rare accidents more attention, and leaves their audience with a distorted view of how dangerous aviation is. Over time, this pattern of coverage makes flying feel more dangerous in a way that statistics alone cannot correct. The paper concludes that public trust in aviation is built and broken through media storytelling as much as through engineering. This creates important implications for any emerging technology, including hypersonic design, which will eventually need the public’s confidence to succeed
Notes
School of Engineering and Applied Science
Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering
Technical Advisor: Chris Goyne, Xinfeng Gao
STS Advisor: Pedro Augusto Francisco
Technical Team Members: Victoria Sun, Michael Della Santina, Michael Novak, Eric Voigt, Genevieve Forrer, Soren Poole, Owen McGilberry, Joe McPhail, Joshua Stoner, Lukas Hange, Kayla Kadlubek, Ava Frodsham, Arwen Nicolau
