Nosetips & Leading Edges for Hypersonic Vehicles


HYPER-X Leading Edge Test Models

Micro Cooling Concepts' employees have worked on thermal protection systems for a variety of hypersonic systems, dating from the early-80's and continuing to the present day. While both passive and active systems have been used, from the late-80s to the present we have focused on active cooling solutions.

In 1988 our employees developed low-cost fabrication process for transpiration-cooled nosetips for ICBM reentry vehicles. This nosetip (at right) was designed to accommodate heat fluxes in excess of 10 kW/cm2. This work evolved into several leading edge development efforts.

Micro Cooling Concepts' employees have worked on four generations of leading edge designs, beginning in 1989 and continuing to the present day. In general the trend in leading edge design has been away from fairly sharp film cooled leading edges and towards extremely sharp convection cooled leading edges. In the fourth generation leading edge radii as small as 0.015" were considered.