Purdue advancements Featured in AIAA Aerospace America's Year in Review
Aerospace America’s annual Year in Review issue is a showcase of technological breakthroughs across the aerospace industry, as seen by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). For 2025, the publication highlighted several important research outcomes from Purdue’s College of Engineering. Those sections are excerpted below.
Aerospace Design and Structures
Safer UAVs and reduced defects lead 2025 advancements 
In July, Stratolaunch and Purdue University concluded a two-year multidisciplinary research effort that addressed the critical challenge of reducing the design cycle program times of hypersonic vehicles. An outcome of that work included a multidisciplinary design analysis and optimization (MDAO) framework using low-fidelity models of Talon-P, a conceptual reusable, rocket-powered, hypersonic flight testbed vehicle, inspired by Stratolaunch’s Talon-A.
Affiliated faculty: Leifur Leifsson, associate professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Structures in 2025: AI-powered composite analytics, material characterization for hypersonics and novel joint analyses
With support from AnalySwift and the state of Indiana, Purdue University is developing the AI-powered system CompositesAI to consolidate and deliver expert composites knowledge through the power of large language models. By integrating diverse data sources, including technical publications, material databases, simulation software, and expert insights, CompositesAI constructs a cohesive data ecosystem, and it enables real-time querying, analytics, and knowledge extraction through a chat interface, making sophisticated composites knowledge accessible to all stakeholders.
Affiliated faculty: Wenbin Yu, professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Aerospace Sciences
Plasma and laser physics experiments push aerospace boundaries
Purdue University researchers in October investigated high-energy nanosecond pulsed discharges, examining streamer propagation before spark formation.
Affiliated faculty: Alexey Shashurin, associate professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Successful reentries and extreme temperatures: The year in thermodynamics
Building on the successes of the first phase of its Multi-Service Advanced Capability Hypersonics Test Bed (MACH-TB) program, the U.S. Defense Department in January launched MACH-TB 2.0, selecting Kratos Defense & Security Solutions as prime for systems engineering, integration and testing under a five-year, $1.45-billion contract. Kratos leads a team that includes Corvid Technologies, [...] and academic partners that include the University of Minnesota and Purdue University.
Affiliated Alumni: Marat Kulakhmetov
Aircraft Technology, Integration and Operations
Hypersonics in 2025: progress amid evolving priorities
In January, a team led by Kratos secured a $1.45 billion, five-year contract for the second phase of the Pentagon’s Multi-Service Advanced Capability Hypersonic Test Bed (MACH-TB) program. The initiative aims to significantly increase the nation’s hypersonic testing cadence. Alongside Kratos, the team brought together Rocket Lab, JRC Integrated Systems, KODA Technologies, CFD Research and the Purdue Applied Research Institute, among others.
Propulsion and Energy
Combustion stabilization approaches enabling high-speed flight
Researchers from Purdue University investigated fuel temperature effects on thermoacoustic instabilities in gas turbine engines. Work conducted in February focused on studying combustion instabilities in a piloted swirl flame for conventional and synthetic jet fuels. Measurements revealed a self-excited longitudinal instability driven by unburnt fuel accumulation in low-velocity regions of the flame and subsequent high heat release rates during acoustic compression. Increasing fuel temperature attenuated the instability through faster evaporation and improved fuel–air mixing.
Affiliated faculty: Carson Slabaugh, professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics
From concept to capability: emerging research in pressure gain combustion
In a program funded by the U.S. Energy Department, Purdue University researchers developed an air-cooled RDE for open-loop integration with a Rolls-Royce M250 gas turbine engine. Stable operation at thermal steady-state was demonstrated in February, with run times up to 110 seconds.
Affiliated faculty: Terry Meyer, professor of Mechanical Engineering, and Venkat Athmanathan, senior research scientist
Liquid propulsion in 2025: first flights and beyond
In July, aerospace engineering students at Purdue University designed, built, and tested functioning rocket engines using optically clear components in a hands-on propulsion course. During test-firing at the Maurice J. Zucrow Laboratories, anomalies became important learning moments: high-speed cameras showed a nitrogen bubble entering an oxidizer manifold, causing an observable instability. In another test, the crack in the sapphire combustion chamber validated a student’s prediction.
Affiliated faculty: Prof Timothee L. Pourpoint