March 5, 2009

Beth Dickey
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-2087
beth.dickey-1{at}nasa.gov

Kathy Barnstorff
Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va.
757-864-9886/344-8511
kathy.barnstorff{at}nasa.gov

Larine Barr
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio
937-522-3525
larine.barr{at}wpafb.af.mil

RELEASE: 09-050

NASA AND AIR FORCE DESIGNATE NATIONAL HYPERSONIC SCIENCE CENTERS

WASHINGTON -- NASA and the United States Air Force have designated
three university and industry partners in California, Texas and
Virginia as national hypersonic science centers.

The new centers will advance research in air-breathing propulsion,
materials and structures, and boundary layer control for aircraft
that can travel at 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 Scientific Research in
Arlington, Va., selected the University of Virginia in
Charlottesville, Texas A&M University in College Station and Teledyne
Scientific & Imaging LLC of Thousand Oaks, Calif., from more than 60
respondents to a broad agency announcement.

"NASA and the Air Force Research Laboratory have made a major
commitment to advancing foundational hypersonic research and training
the next generation of hypersonic researchers," said James Pittman,
principal investigator for the Hypersonics Project of NASA's
Fundamental Aeronautics Program at NASA's Langley Research Center in
Hampton, Va. "Our joint investment of $30 million over five years
will support basic science and applied research that improves our
understanding of hypersonic flight."

The University of Virginia is designated the National Center for
Hypersonic Combined Cycle Propulsion. It will lead a team
specializing in air-breathing propulsion research. Team members
include researchers from the University of Pittsburgh in
Pennsylvania; George Washington University in Washington; Cornell
University in Ithaca, N.Y.; Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif.;
Michigan State University in East Lansing; the State University of
New York at Buffalo; North Carolina State University in Raleigh; ATK
GASL Inc. in Ronkonkoma, N.Y.; the National Institute of Standards
and Technology in Gaithersburg, Md.; and The Boeing Company in
Huntington Beach, Calif.

Teledyne Scientific & Imaging LLC is designated the National
Hypersonic Science Center for Hypersonic Materials and Structures.
Team members include researchers from the University of California at
Santa Barbara, the University of Colorado in Boulder, the University
of Miami in Florida, Princeton University in New Jersey, Missouri
University of Science and Technology in Rolla; the University of
California at Berkeley and the University of Texas at Arlington.

Texas A&M University is designated the National Center for Hypersonic
Laminar-Turbulent Transition. It will specialize in boundary layer
control research. Team members include researchers from the
California Institute of Technology in Pasadena; the University of
Arizona in Tucson; the University of California at Los Angeles; and
Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

NASA and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research previously
teamed
to review each other's technology portfolios and develop a plan for
foundational hypersonic research. "The Air Force Office of Scientific
Research is very excited to continue our partnership with NASA," said
John Schmisseur, manager for the Air Force Office of Scientific
Research's Hypersonics and Turbulence Program. "The centers represent
our first effort to sponsor research jointly."

NASA's Fundamental Aeronautics Program and the Air Force Office of
Scientific Research each set aside as much as $15 million to fund the
centers. Each center will receive $2 million per year and as much as
$10 million if all renewal options are exercised.

For more information about the winning proposals, visit:

http://www.aeronautics.nasa.gov/hypersonic_scicenters_awards_abstracts.htm

For more information about NASA's aeronautics research, visit:

http://aeronautics.nasa.gov

For more information about NASA and agency programs, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov

-end-
--- SBBSecho 2.12-Win32