The two-stage light gas gun has been the predominant tool in hypervelocity-related research. Due to the high compression rate of light gases, such as hydrogen and helium, the compressed gas reaches extreme pressure and temperature levels, measured in thousands of bars and Kelvins. This…
We present a combined theoretical/computational framework to model jetting processes following shockwave/interface interactions. The model is based off treating the vorticity field as the principal independent variable. Following classical vortex dynamics, we develop a low dimensional set of ODEs which are easily integrated to…
The Office of Science and Technology Policy created the Orbital Debris Interagency Working Group (ODIWG), including members of the DoD, NASA, USAF, and USSF to tackle the challenge of space debris. Whipple shields used by these groups have significant limitations. An improvement that saves…
The first planetary defense mission, DART, proved that it is possible to change the orbital path of an asteroid via kinetic impact. The effectiveness of the kinetic impact method is quantified in terms of the momentum enhancement factor β, which is known to depend…
Three different boron carbide materials, with distinct microstructures, were impacted over two high velocity ranges to study their fracture mechanisms as well as crater formation and penetration performance. The first velocity range (1-3 km/s) was used to compare the materials without penetration, and the…
Hypervelocity impacts generate a flash of light, known as an impact flash, and have plumes of ejecta that are complex, both temporally and spatially, composed of condensed phased particles, fragments, and gases. Recently, several hypervelocity impact experiments were conducted at the Johns Hopkins Hypervelocity…