Stratolaunch successfully completed its hypersonic test flight earlier this year. Image courtesy of Draper

With a recent air-launched test vehicle flight that came close to hypersonic speed, research company Draper has accelerated the potential for its flight technology.

Draper, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based nonprofit, provided the crucial guidance, navigation, and control flight software for the flight. That guidance system was built on the same Draper technology that NASA has used in its Apollo mission, the international space station and space shuttle programs.

“In a broad sense, Draper has been working hypersonic since Apollo,” Rick Loffi, space systems program manager and lead executive for Draper’s Houston campus, tells InnovationMap.

The navigation software controlled the first powered test flight of an air-launched vehicle that approached the hypersonic threshold of Mach 5, or 3,800 miles per hour, or five times the speed of sound.

Stratolaunch successfully completed the flight of its TA-1 Talon test vehicle in the Mojave Desert in March. The California-based company designs and launches aerospace vehicles and technologies, providing access to a reusable hypersonic testing platform, according to its website. The historic test flight landed in the Pacific Ocean, and achieved successful ignition, acceleration and sustained altitude climb.

“The Draper software is really what’s stabilizing the vehicle during flight…and controlling it as it gets up into altitude and speed,” Brandon Jalbert, space systems program manager for Draper and team lead for Stratolaunch, says “so it’s not doing loop-de-loops, or getting unstable…blowing up in the atmosphere.”

Draper uses model-based design and algorithms in its software, and for the boost phase of the Talon test, Draper developed a novel algorithm, which built upon its previous work for NASA, Jalbert says.

Aerospace manufacturing companies like Boom and Hermeus stand poised to pick up where the Concorde left off, and are racing to implement and execute on accessible hypersonic and supersonic commercial technology.

The Concorde aircraft made supersonic, four-hour transoceanic flights a reality, but only for the very wealthy, and shut down in 2003.

Draper is not involved in any of those ventures to bring accessible supersonic flight back to the skies. Its primary focus with hypersonic will remain with deterrence and testing platforms, Jalbert says.

But the company’s technology “has applications everywhere from military to commercial activity,“ he says.

“Our focus is to solve complex challenges of national importance,” he says, “whether that’s…helping our commercial partners, or working on civil or military applications. That’s where we see ourselves being of value to the industry.”

With the harsh conditions involved in hypersonic flight, advancing the technology has its challenges.

“You’ve got to have proper hardware and electronics and sensors that can operate within those conditions,” Jalbert says.

Draper originated in 1932 when engineer Charles Stark Draper founded what eventually became the Instrumentation Lab at MIT.

His work on inertial navigation theory paved the way for the use of the autopilot in today’s commercial jets. The lab was divested by MIT in the 1970s, and became a nonprofit. Draper has long been a government contractor and has worked on many military projects, dating to WWII.

Draper in 2023 secured the $2.2 billion renewal of a long-standing contract with the U.S. Navy to provide the guidance system for the submarine-launched Trident II D-5 missile.

The U.S. government has shown a growing interest in the development of hypersonic weapons systems, as Russia and China have developed advanced capabilities.

The Pentagon’s budget request for hypersonic research for fiscal year 2025 was $6.9 billion, up from $4.7 billion for 2023, according to a recent U.S. Naval Institute report.

“There’s a big shift, in deterrence, as well as offensive, on hypersonic,” Jalbert says.

However, the Defense Department has not yet acquired hypersonic weapons, according to the report, but is developing prototypes and testing.

Draper has a long, celebrated history with NASA, and its Houston office is housed at Johnson Space Center. Draper's presence in Houston dates back to the 1960s, Loffi says.

From the Apollo missions to the space station and now the Artemis program, which aims to land the first person of color and the first woman on the moon by 2026 on its Orion spacecraft, Draper has partnered with NASA every step of the way, providing its navigation system for space flight.

“Right now, our biggest customer within NASA is the Orion program,” Loffi says, with approximately 15 of the 20-person Houston office working on the project, in collaboration with the company’s Cambridge colleagues.

Draper's Houston office is working on NASA's Orion program. Photo via NASA

The company is also working with NASA on lunar landing technology and sub-orbital experiments, as well as the propulsion element and Gateway space station for Artemis.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s aerospace manufacturing company Blue Origin is also partnering with Draper to develop the Artemis human landing system.

Neither Loffi nor Jalbert aspired to go into outer space themselves, but rather to provide solutions to make that possible. Human spaceflight has been a lifelong passion for Loffi.

While he had lots of job opportunities after graduating from Purdue University with a degree in electrical engineering, Loffi chose NASA.

“I wasn’t that person who grew up dreaming of becoming an astronaut,” Loffi says. “I was old enough to see the Apollo 11 moon landing, and it did inspire me.”

His work at NASA began after the space shuttle Challenger explosion, in 1986. He was part of the agency’s effort to return to space flight, and worked on space station development, before joining Draper in 2011.

Jalbert, a graduate of Northeastern University, says his early work at Draper “lit the fires for my interest in space.”

Meet Commander Reid Wiseman, the responsible for the success of the Artemis II mission once it launches. Photo courtesy of NASA

Meet the Houstonian commanding NASA's historic return to the moon

Q&A

The world now knows the names of the four Houston-based astronauts who will launch in the first crewed moon mission in 50 years. NASA's Artemis II will see the first woman and person of color helming a lunar voyage, a first since the agency's history.

Astronaut Christina Hammock Koch, herself part of a history-making astronaut class and first all-female spacewalk— will join Victor Glover — the first person of color heading to the moon. Rookie Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen rounds out the crew with Commander Reid Wiseman.

Building on the unmanned Artemis I mission to the moon that concluded in December, Artemis II is slated to launch around November 2024, per NASA. In a scene familiar to space fans, the Artemis II crew will deploy inside the cozy Orion spacecraft that will sit atop the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Artemis II's crew will spend some 10 days in orbit and even venture farther than the 1.4 million miles logged by Artemis I, adding to the historic nature of the journey. After moon orbit, the spacecraft will return to Earth for splashdown and recovery — always a celebrated moment after the highly anticipated takeoff.

Data gathered from Artemis II will pad information from Artemis I in effort to create a permanent moon outpost. On the moon, crews will learn how to live and work away from Earth, which will pave the way for the eventual mission to Mars. A planned Artemis III mission may launch in 2025 or '26, per NASA, which picks up from the last trip, Apollo 17 in 1972. The Artemis III mission, NASA promises, will see the first woman and person of color on the moon.

CultureMap caught up with a very busy Wiseman, who is now responsible for the success of the Artemis II mission once it launches. Hailing from Baltimore, Maryland, the 47-year-old earned his master's degree from Johns Hopkins University and is a decorated naval aviator, serving in the Middle East as a fighter pilot. The Artemis II mission commander completed a 165-day trip to the International Space Station in 2014 and was most recently chief of the astronaut office, per his bio. He has two sons with wife Carol, who passed away from cancer in May 2020.

The Artemis II crew was announced earlier this week. Photo courtesy of NASA

CultureMap: Congratulations, Commander. As Artemis II's leader, you are joining lunar mission commander names like the first man on the moon, Neil Armstrong, and Apollo 13's Jim Lovell. Do you allow yourself to think like that?

Reid Wiseman: Thank you. I do not allow myself to think like that. I think if you get to meet this crew — Victor Glover, Christina Koch, Jeremy Hanson — I really think we would say we want this to be so routine. We want Artemis II to be so successful and so long term that people completely forget about us. We're just that initial little stepping stone. I really hope that's the case. I am flying with an incredible group of heroes and I can't wait to go get this job done.

CM: What does it mean, as mission commander, to have the safety — and the lives — of these amazing and history-making astronauts in your hands once you launch?

RW: It means everything to me.

CM: You and the crew are so incredibly accomplished in your own individual spaces. Yet when you get to NASA — as Christina Koch once told me — you're kind of learning anew. What are you learning now?

RW: When you look at our crew, our next step is to learn about the spacecraft that will be operating in deep space. It's a very capable, very redundant, robust machine. So we have to get in the classroom, we've got to learn about all the capabilities, but we also have to get out and see the workforce.

We'll be the first humans to ever ride on this vehicle. And there's a lot of unknowns. We have a lot of systems to test. Uh One was very successful.

We need to hit the books and then we need to get in the sim [simulator], we need to practice simulations, learn how we all operate together as a team and then learn about the failure modes of the vehicle, how we can work around to keep ourselves safe and keep the mission going. And then after that, I think we'll be ready to look at Florida — and head out to the moon.

CM: Do prior lunar flight commanders and icons — like Armstrong and Lovell — serve as role models? How about the astronaut network in general?

RW: I think we look at those legends as their heroes, but they are also friends. Those folks really gave their lives to our nation and when they landed on the moon for the first time. But the amazing part for us as younger astronauts is they're still heavily engaged in everything we do right now.

I talked to Jack [Harrrison] Schmitt just a few months ago. Dave Scott still comes by every time he can to talk about geologic processes on the moon. Like these guys are our friends. It's really, really neat.

Neil Armstrong was amazing. John Young was incredible — he led our office for a number of years. Those guys are heroes to us for sure. When you look at who has taught me the most about being an astronaut, it's the folks I flew with on my first mission. It's the folks that I've worked with in the astronaut office. Now, I've seen some exceptional examples of leadership and followership and both skills are critical to be an astronaut.

CM: You learned you'll be headed to the moon — the dream adventure of billions all over the world— in the most office kind of way, we hear.

RW: Uh yeah, we all goofed up [laughs]. We missed the meeting. The chief astronaut put a placeholder on my schedule for a different topic. I was actually at a doctor's office and the doctor just walked in. So, I missed the first part of the meeting and I was able to use Microsoft Teams and dial in towards the end.

When the camera popped up, I saw the chief astronaut — who I expected to see for my meeting. But then, I also saw Norm Knight, our director of flight operations. I also saw Victor Glover and Christina Koch. And I was like, ‘oh boy, I think I just missed something big here.’

CM: Well, we've all missed meetings. But this was big — like headed to the moon big.

RW: Right [laughs]. It turned out that both Christina and Victor also missed the beginning of the meeting. So, we all showed up in perfect harmony.

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This article originally ran on CultureMap.

The history-making team was announced at Ellington Field near Johnson Space Center in Houston. Photo via LinkedIn

NASA names four astronauts heading to the moon at Houston event

ready for liftoff

NASA and the Canadian Space Agency announced the four astronauts who will be onboard the Artemis II mission around the moon yesterday at an event at Ellington Field near NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

The 10-day mission is slated to put the first woman and the first person of color on the moon.

“For the first time in more than 50 years, these individuals – the Artemis II crew – will be the first humans to fly to the vicinity of the Moon. Among the crew are the first woman, first person of color, and first Canadian on a lunar mission, and all four astronauts will represent the best of humanity as they explore for the benefit of all,” says JSC Director Vanessa Wyche. “This mission paves the way for the expansion of human deep space exploration and presents new opportunities for scientific discoveries, commercial, industry and academic partnerships and the Artemis Generation.”

The crew assignments include:

  • Commander Reid Wiseman, who has logged more than 165 days in space in two trips. He previously served as a flight engineer aboard the International Station and most recently served as chief of the Astronaut Office from December 2020 until November 2022.
  • Pilot Victor Glover, who served as pilot on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 mission in 2021. This will be his second trip to space.
  • Mission Specialist 1 Christina Hammock Koch, who set the record for longest single spaceflight by a woman with a total of 328 days in space and participated in the first all-female spacewalks. This will be her second flight into space.
  • Mission Specialist 2 Jeremy Hansen, representing Canada. Hansen is a colonel in the Canadian Armed Forces and former fighter pilot and has served as Capcom in NASA's Mission Control Center at Johnson Space Center. He was the first Canadian to lead a NASA astronaut class. This will be his first flight into space.

Meet the four astronauts who will return humans to the moon. Photo courtesy of NASA

“NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Hammock Koch, and CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen, each has their own story, but, together, they represent our creed: E pluribus unum – out of many, one," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said. "Together, we are ushering in a new era of exploration for a new generation of star sailors and dreamers–the Artemis Generation.”

Artemis II is slated to build upon the uncrewed Artemis I mission that was completed in December. The crew will be NASA's first to aboard the agency's deep space rocket, the Space Launch System, and Orion spacecraft. They will test the spacecrafts' systems to ensure they operate as planned for humans in deep space before setting course for the moon.

NASA's Artemis program collaborates with commercial and international partners with the goal of establishing a long-term presence on the moon. Lessons learned from the missions are planned to be used to send the first astronauts to Mars.

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United breaks ground on $177 million facility and opens tech center at IAH

off the ground

United Airlines announced new infrastructure investments at George Bush Intercontinental Airport as part of the company’s ongoing $3.5 billion investment into IAH.

United broke ground on a new $177 million Ground Service Equipment (GSE) Maintenance Facility this week that will open in 2027.

The 140,000-square-foot GSE facility will support over 1,800 ground service vehicles and with expansive repair space, shop space and storage capacity. The GSE facility will also be targeted for LEED Silver certification. United believes this will provide more resources to assist with charging batteries, fabricating metal and monitoring electronic controls with improved infrastructure and modern workspaces.

Additionally, the company opened its new $16 million Technical Operations Training Center.

The center will include specialized areas for United's growing fleet, and advanced simulation technology that includes scenario-based engine maintenance and inspection training. By 2032, the Training Center will accept delivery of new planes. This 91,000-square-foot facility will include sheet metal and composite training shops as well.

The Training Center will also house a $6.3 million Move Team Facility, which is designed to centralize United's Super Tug operations. United’s IAH Move Team manages over 15 Super Tugs across the airfield, which assist with moving hundreds of aircraft to support flight departures, remote parking areas, and Technical Operations Hangars.

The company says it plans to introduce more than 500 new aircraft into its fleet, and increase the total number of available seats per domestic departure by nearly 30%. United also hopes to reduce carbon emissions per seat and create more unionized jobs by 2026.

"With these new facilities, Ground Service Equipment Maintenance Facility and the Technical Operations Training Center, we are enhancing our ability to maintain a world-class fleet while empowering our employees with cutting-edge tools and training,” Phil Griffith, United's Vice President of Airport Operations, said in a news release. “This investment reflects our long-term vision for Houston as a critical hub for United's operations and our commitment to sustainability, efficiency, and growth."

UH study uncovers sustainable farming methods for hemp production

growth plan

A new University of Houston study of hemp microbes can potentially assist scientists in creating special mixtures of microbes to make hemp plants produce more CBD or have better-quality fibers.

The study, led by Abdul Latif Khan, an assistant professor of biotechnology at the Cullen College of Engineering Technology Division, was published in the journal Scientific Reports from the Nature Publishing Group. The team also included Venkatesh Balan, UH associate professor of biotechnology at the Cullen College of Engineering Technology Division; Aruna Weerasooriya, professor of medicinal plants at Prairie View A&M University; and Ram Ray, professor of agronomy at Prairie View A&M University.

The study examined microbiomes living in and around the roots (rhizosphere) and on the leaves (phyllosphere) of four types of hemp plants. The team at UH compared how these microorganisms differ between hemp grown for fiber and hemp grown for CBD production.

“In hemp, the microbiome is important in terms of optimizing the production of CBD and enhancing the quality of fiber,” Khan said in a news release. “This work explains how different genotypes of hemp harbor microbial communities to live inside and contribute to such processes. We showed how different types of hemp plants have their own special groups of tiny living microbes that help the plants grow and stay healthy.”

The study indicates that hemp cultivation can be improved by better understanding these distinct microbial communities, which impact growth, nutrient absorption, stress resilience, synthesis and more. This could help decrease the need for chemical inputs and allow growers to use more sustainable agricultural practices.

“Understanding these microorganisms can also lead to more sustainable farming methods, using nature to boost plant growth instead of relying heavily on chemicals,” Ahmad, the paper’s first author and doctoral student of Khan’s, said the news release.

Other findings in the study included higher fungal diversity in leaves and stems, higher bacterial diversity in roots and soil, and differing microbiome diversity. According to UH, CBD-rich varieties are currently in high demand for pharmaceutical products, and fiber-rich varieties are used in industrial applications like textiles.