Facilities on Earth Powering the Future in Space

Source: Sally Wood

UNSW Canberra Space hosts a premiere team of engineers and scientists who continue to shape Australia’s direction and capability in the space sector.

Researchers know that what happens in space is vital for life on Earth. From GPS navigation to crucial emergency services and support, investment in space is an important area.

UNSW’s facilities allow researchers and industry stakeholders to design, develop and operate satellite missions from start to finish.

Researchers work on developing and testing new materials to find stateof-the-art solutions for hypersonic technology.

Associate Professor Sean O’Byrne said there is no real magic number for how fast a vehicle travels.

“On the ground sound travels at about 340 metres per second. If you go faster than that, then it's supersonic. And if you go more than about five times faster, it's called hypersonic.”

“Our hypersonic shock tunnel can make a flow that's like flying at 40 kilometres altitude at 10 times the speed of sound, or it can make a flow that looks like a vehicle entering into a planetary atmosphere like Mars, but only for a millisecond, only for a thousand for the second,” he said.

The UNSW Canberra T-ADFA Free-Piston Shock Tunnel facility is an Australiandeveloped experimental device.

The device can generate up to 12 times the speed of sound, and test temperatures similar to the re-entry of Earth.

The facility has become worldclass because of the wide range of experimental measurements available.

“The technology that we're developing will certainly inform the design of the next generation of hypersonic propulsion systems and planetary entry systems.”

“The work that we do tells people how these devices should work and helps them to make more efficient engines that will operate over a wider range of flow conditions than we can,” Associate Professor O’Byrne said.

Securing Australia’s Future

The UNSW Defence Research Institute links global academic and industry partnerships to create next-generation security solutions.

The Institute works with the Department of Defence locally and internationally to bring the best research to life and enhance security.

Researchers and practitioners work on a variety of new materials to bolster Australia defence sector.

For example, testing structural designs, and validating components and materials to operate in the extremes of hypersonic flight is a crucial focus.

High temperature materials are exposed to the thermal-structural conditions representative of hypersonic flight, which ensures optimisation of vehicle designs and an overall reduction in the requirement for expensive flight testing.

UNSW Canberra has a competitive advantage through its unique inhouse expertise in the design and testing of aerostructures, which can withstand the extreme conditions experienced by a vehicle during hypersonic flight.

Associate Professor Sean O’Byrne said the Institute opens a world of opportunities for UNSW Canberra researchers and partners.

“It's possible that in the future we might be able to do mining on places like Mars.”

“It's a very long view, but having access to those kinds of resources will be very important, potentially, into the future,” he said.