A new partnership between NASA and the United States Air Force is underway as they look to university and industry partners to work together to advance hypersonic research. Hypersonic speed is defined as Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound, and faster.

NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate in Washington and the Air Force Research Laboratory's Office of Science Research at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, have released a broad agency announcement describing their intent to establish three national hypersonic science centers.

In order to create these science centers, NASA's Fundamental Aeronautics Program and the Air Force Office of Science Research plan to set aside as much as $30 million to fund the centers over five years. The maximum grant will be approximately $2 million a year. The jointly funded program will support university-level basic science or engineering research that provides improved understanding of hypersonic flight.

"We have identified three critical research areas: air-breathing propulsion, materials and structures, and boundary layer control," said James Pittman, principal investigator for NASA's Fundamental Aeronautics Program's Hypersonics Project at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. "These three areas are the biggest hurdles to successful hypersonic flight and low-cost space access using an air-breathing engine."