Plasma-Enhanced Hypersonic Performance Enabled by

This paper reviews work underway on the development of new technologies that will enhance the performance of hypersonic vehicles through plasma-related processes and the utilization of MHD to provide the large power levels that are required to drive these processes. Three technologies are discussed for plasma-enhanced hypersonic performance. These include: (1) the use of off-body plasmas for drag reduction, steering, and enhanced inlet performance; (2) the use of surface or near-surface plasmas for mitigating local heating and controlling separation; and (3) the use of electron beam and plasma processes for controlling combustion for enhanced performance inside the engine and for local heat addition applications in other regions of the flow path. For realistic scale vehicles, the energies required for these applications exceed the present capability of on-board auxiliary power units, and, therefore, will require power to be generated directly from the hypersonic air passing over the vehicle or through the engine. In the high Mach number regime characteristic of re-entry vehicles, there is sufficient heating of the air to allow MHD power extraction using equilibrium ionization of alkali vapor seed material. By replacing a portion of the vehicle surface with a hollow core truss structure containing an embedde