Hypersonic inlets, particular designing them for optimum performance, minimized drag, and avoiding unsteady behavior, as well as examining the trajectory limits imposed by inlet and engine requirements; Shock-shock interactions, examining the effect of intersecting shocks in a hypersonic propulsion system, particularly the influence of unsteadiness and shock-induced instabilities; Propulsion-airframe integration of hypersonic engines with high L/D airframe configurations; Hypersonic engine unstarts; Hypersonic projectiles;High-speed propulsion cycle analysis and comparisons, especially for single-stage-to-orbit vehicles; fundamentalhypersonic fluid dynamics, including unsteady flow, sharp and blunt leading edge behavior, and scaling laws for hypersonic parameters; Numerical simulation of hypersonic testing facilities;Hypersonic and high-altitude flight test experiments;Novel methods for fuel injection and mixing in hypersonic engines; Hypersonic trajectory tradeoffs for single-stage-to-orbit and two-stage to-orbit configurations;Spacecraft applications of high L/D hypersonic configurations for aero-assisted orbital modifications;Advanced spacecraft propulsion, including low-thrust ion engines, solar-powered light sails, and contra-terrene engines; Atmospheric chemistry pollution problems associated with hypersonic transatmospheric vehicles; Orbital radiation environment, space radiation-related safety concerns, and space plasma vehicle interactions; computationalplasma dynamics, especially as applied to electric propulsion devices; gas turbine technology; turbine heat transfer; advanced instrumentation; flow visualization; unsteady aerodynamics, particularly as applied to high=speed flight.
