A note on the optimal hypersonic flight path.

Optimal Plane Change During Constant Altitude Hypersonic Flight

In a previous paper, we addressed the problem of choosing constant values of altitude, speed, and angle of attack such that the orbital plane change during hypersonic flight is maximized for a fixed amount of propellant consumption. In the present paper, the restrictions of constant speed and angle of attack are removed. Necessary conditions for solutions to the resulting optimal control proble...

Plasma Telemetry in Hypersonic Flight

Problems associated with telemetry blackout caused by the plasma sheath surrounding a hypersonic vehicle are addressed. In particular, the critical nature of overcoming this limitation for test and evaluation purposes is detailed. Since the telemetry blackout causes great concern for atmospheric cruise vehicles, ballistic missiles, and reentry vehicles, there have been many proposed approaches ...

Propulsion Systems for Hypersonic Flight

Towards High Efficiency Hypersonic Flight – Hypersonic Bi-Directional Flying Wing

This paper examines the use of a hypersonic bi-directional flying wing concept for use in a high efficiency hypersonic system. The bi-directional flying wing concept consists of a symmetric planform which enables flight to occur at two different geometric configurations. The subsonic configuration would have a high aspect ratio and a low sweep. The aircraft would then rotate 90 degrees and ente...

A note on the Path Kernel Conjecture

Let τ(G) denote the number of vertices in a longest path in a graph G = (V , E). A subset K of V is called a Pn-kernel of G if τ(G[K ]) ≤ n−1 and every vertex v ∈ V \K is adjacent to an end-vertex of a path of order n− 1 in G[K ]. It is known that every graph has a Pn-kernel for every positive integer n ≤ 9. R. Aldred and C. Thomassen in [R.E.L. Aldred, C. Thomassen, Graphs with not all possibl...