HyperSat: An Innovative, High-cadence, Hypersonic Flying Testbed

This paper is the first in a series of five papers discussing a Georgia Tech-developed Hypersonic CubeSat platform, branded as "HyperSat," which serves as a low-cost, high-cadence hypersonic testbed. Acting like a flying wind tunnel, HyperSat facilitates valuable measurements under realistic operating conditions, including thermal loading, acoustic loading, and oscillating shock loading—measurements often unachievable in most traditional hypersonic wind tunnels. This paper details the HyperSat mission and the development of its preliminary design. The concept of operations begins with launching HyperSat into a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) and performing a propulsive maneuver to position it for flight through the Earth’s upper atmosphere. Before entering the atmosphere, an umbrella-like structure is deployed to create an aerodynamically stable thermal shield. Science data collected during atmospheric passes is stored until radio blackout ends, after which the data can be transmitted to an existing ground-station network. A single launch can enable multiple atmospheric passes, each lasting several minutes. HyperSat is proposed as a cost-effective alternative to other methods, offering high-cadence testing and significant potential for workforce development.