Hypersonic ReEntry Deployable Glider Experiment (HEDGE); The Geopolitical Implications of Hypersonic Weaponry: The Shift in Geopolitical Influence from Hypersonic Capabilities
Publisher: name: University of Virginia, School of Engineering and Applied Science, BS (Bachelor of Science), 2023
Year: 2023
Subjects: Hypersonics
Geopolitics

description: Hypersonic technology has recently picked up an abundance of interest from the defense industry in both the U.S. government and private sectors. This is due to the increased maneuverability, speed, and undetectability that hypersonic vehicles possess. CubeSats are small satellites that can be developed by university students and launched alongside other payloads in a rocket that is reaching Low Earth Orbit. As hypersonic technology is a relatively new field of study, a significant amount of data collection and analysis is necessary to understand hypersonic flight and its interactions with its surrounding environment outside of simulations. CubeSats are relatively inexpensive and are easy to deploy in large quantities through rideshares on rockets that are launching payloads for other companies or organizations.
Thus, the technical topic of this science, technology, and society (STS) portfolio is a CubeSat called Hypersonic ReEntry Deployable Glider Experiment (HEDGE) that is intended to orbit the Earth for two weeks before it reenters the atmosphere to collect hypersonic data. The data collection phase of this 3U CubeSat will only occur during the reentry phase of the mission, in which material performance, glider performance, temperature, and pressure data will be collected in the top layers of the Earth’s atmosphere. HEDGE is intentionally designed to burn up in the atmosphere due to the ethical issues that come with dropping a satellite onto an unpredictable global location. Thus, the CubeSat is intended to transmit all its collected data to relay satellites and ultimately a ground station during its reentry. The primary mission goals of HEDGE are the following: demonstrate the feasibility of affordable CubeSats as a platform for hypersonic glider flight research, demonstrate a materials screening method for hypersonic flight conditions at an extremely low cost, and show that undergraduate students can conduct hypersonic glider flight experiments at lower costs and with greater accessibility than traditional programs.
The STS research paper goes over the geopolitical implications that come with the development and use of hypersonic weapons. The research question posed in this paper is the following: How will the geopolitical influence of the United States and its adversaries shift once hypersonic capabilities are fully functional? Hypersonic technology and the research surrounding it are almost purely being studied and invested in due to the new developments of hypersonic weapons. Thus, this research paper is closely linked to the value of conducting an experiment such as that of the STS technical thesis. Hypersonic boost-glide missiles are new weapons that will potentially fill a significant portion of the military’s arsenal in the United States, China, and Russia. These ballistic missiles enter space and deploy an aircraft known as a glide body that purely uses kinetic energy to eliminate a target. These hypersonic weapons are able to move at such high speeds at an extremely low altitude that it becomes tremendously difficult for adversarial nations to track and intercept them. In fact, there is currently no defense system that can prevent a hypersonic weapon from hitting its intended target.
The research paper first delves into the purpose of hypersonic weapons and the shift in modern warfare that may result from their development and deployment. The primary nations developing hypersonic weapons are the U.S., Russia, and China; thus, they are the paper's main focus regarding the geopolitical implications of these weapons. What follows is a modern example of how Russia has used its own hypersonic weapon to aid its invasion of Ukraine and a discussion on China’s geopolitical interest in Taiwan and how hypersonic weapons may play a role. These weapons can either carry conventional (non-nuclear) or nuclear warheads. This may result in a concept known as nuclear ambiguity, which is the uncertainty that a nation may have on whether an incoming hypersonic glide body is carrying a nuclear warhead. Global insecurity and instability may be an unwanted byproduct of using hypersonic weapons. It is discussed with great detail, followed by a discussion on the proposed policies that can limit hypersonic weapon use and the global stability disturbances they may cause.
The technical and research thesis papers provide key insights into what is being done to lower the cost of hypersonic research as well as what the implications may be for the development of hypersonic weapons for militaries, policymakers, and civilians around the globe. With a new arms race in progress, it is essential to understand the potential consequences that may come with the inevitable use of hypersonic weapons.