Carbon Crunch

For hypersonic flight above Mach 7 (over 5,000 miles per hour), carbon-carbon composites (C-C) are the preeminent material capable of withstanding the extreme thermal and mechanical loads.

This makes C-C the material of choice for hypersonic aeroshells – the protective outer shield of a vehicle that bears the brunt of the heat and pressure during atmospheric flight. However, conventional C-C manufacturing is a slow, arduous process that is not readily scalable.

The Carbon Crunch program aims to accelerate the production of these critical components by developing disruptive technologies that are inherently faster and more scalable than the current state of the art.

Scalability in Carbon Crunch is defined as achieving high, reliable production throughput for relevant aeroshell geometries while maintaining quality, minimizing set-up time, and controlling cost.

The program includes a proof-of-concept Phase 1, where performers will conduct small-scale manufacturing runs that demonstrate that their processes have the potential to accelerate hypersonic production. Phase 2 will scale up the successful process(es) to a hypersonic aeroshell design with pre-qualification steps performed to provide confidence that the process can be used on a program of record.