Funded by the Department of War’s Joint Hypersonics Transition Office, the 91�Թ���-led project aims to develop and test a design for a dual-mode, liquid, rotating detonation engine at 91�Թ���’s brand-new Center of Excellence in Hypersonic and Space Propulsion (HyperSpace Center).

The project builds on previous 91�Թ��� research and may improve energy efficiency and reduce costs for commercial space access and transatlantic travel.

The research is in its early stages, but Ahmed says he’s hopeful this transformative technology will be realized over the course of the project.

“In simple terms, it could propel you at Mach 5 and above.”

“In simple terms, it could propel you at Mach 5 and above,” he says. “It will work like an aircraft engine that ingests air but transitions into a rocket engine that could take you to space or at faster speeds and bring you back into air mode propulsion again.”

Continuing to advance the emerging field of hypersonic travel and build upon previous successes is something Ahmed is looking forward to with his dual-mode detonation engine research.

Ahmed’s proposed engine technology may lend itself to making hypersonic travel possible – meaning that transatlantic travel may be possible in a fraction of the time it takes for conventional aircraft.

“We have significant plans of using that technology for hypersonic travel and other initiatives, reducing cost for commercial space access and making transatlantic travel quicker.”

“We’re very excited about this program because it builds up a lot of the capabilities that we have at the lab with exploring detonation-based propulsion, where we could drive high energy efficiency propelling you at faster speeds and functioning in different modes,” he says. “We have significant plans of using that technology for hypersonic travel and other initiatives, reducing cost for commercial space access and making transatlantic travel quicker.”

For this project, 91�Թ��� is collaborating with researchers at the University of Michigan, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Raytheon Technologies and Pratt & Whitney.

Researcher’s Credentials
Ahmed joined 91�Թ���’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, part of 91�Թ���’s College of Engineering and Computer Science, in 2014. He is also a faculty member of the Center for Advanced Turbomachinery, Director of the Center of Excellence in Hypersonic and Space Propulsion (HYPERSPACE Center) and the director of the Propulsion and Energy Research Laboratory. He served more than three years as a senior aero/thermo engineer at Pratt & Whitney military engines working on advanced engine programs and technologies.

He also served as a faculty member at Old Dominion University and Florida State University. At 91�Թ���, he is leading research in propulsion and energy with applications for power generation and gas-turbine engines, propulsion-jet engines, hypersonics and fire safety, as well as research related to supernova science and COVID-19 transmission control. He earned his doctoral degree in mechanical engineering from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He is a DoD Distinguished Faculty Fellow, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics associate fellow, and a U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory and Office of Naval Research faculty fellow.

We are America’s Space University. And we celebrate 91�Թ��� Space Week to honor our origin as we dare to build what’s next.

Where Global Leaders Unite to Forge the Future of Space

Since 91�Թ��� first held classes on Oct. 7, 1968, we have always been driven by an ambitious charge: “Reach for the stars.” The first moon landing followed in 1969. Decades later, 91�Թ��� keeps reaching as that founding mission lives on in the Knights developing the talent, discoveries and technologies taking humanity deeper into space — and transforming life here on Earth.

Before 91�Թ��� had a single classroom, we had a mission: provide the talent to help humanity reach the moon.

91�Թ���, America’s Space University, was built for the Space Age. We have spent every decade since building what’s next.

This year’s Mission X Space Game celebrates that momentum during a year of milestones: the 10th anniversary of 91�Թ���’s Space Game, the 20th season of the university’s on-campus football stadium, the 30th anniversary of 91�Թ��� football’s rise to the highest division of collegiate athletics and the 250th anniversary of the United States.

Together, these milestones offer a chance to reflect on how far 91�Թ��� has come — and look toward where Knights are headed next.

Across six decades, every breakthrough has built on what came before. The goalposts have moved from reaching the moon to sustaining life beyond it. New fields have joined the mission. Once-distant ideas have become experiments, breakthroughs and careers powered by Knights.

The moments that follow trace those threads across generations: then, the bold moves that launched 91�Թ���’s space legacy; now, the people and possibilities building on that foundation to push exploration even further.

1960s | Building the Space Workforce

1963: Florida Technological University, now 91�Թ���, is founded to provide talent for the growing space industry as the United States is challenged with landing a man on the moon before 1970.

Today: 91�Թ��� is the No. 1 supplier of graduates to the nation’s aerospace and defense industries by Aviation Week. That impact is especially visible along Florida’s Space Coast, where 29% of Kennedy Space Center employees are 91�Թ��� graduates.

1968: Classes begin across 91�Թ���’s original five colleges, with aerospace sciences among the university’s earliest degree programs.

Today: Space at 91�Թ��� extends far beyond a single discipline. Students can choose from more than 35 space-related programs spanning business, engineering, hospitality, medicine, planetary science, optics and policy — preparing them for in-demand careers across the space sector.

1968: 91�Թ��� receives its first research grant — $12,500 from NASA — establishing an early connection between the university and the agency.

Today: 91�Թ��� has received $204 million in NASA awards since 1991, supporting work that advances planetary exploration, propulsion, space medicine, technologies and more. This underscores the strong decades-long collaboration between the university and the agency.

1970s | Connecting Education to Industry

1971: NASA employs 18 students through 91�Թ���’s Co-Operative Education initiative, which leverages the university’s metropolitan location to let students alternate quarters of study with off-campus work in their academic fields.

Today: 91�Թ��� students are conducting hands-on research alongside Johnson Space Center astronauts and testing technology on the world’s largest simulated lunar surface.

These experiences strengthen students’ resumes while giving them workforce-ready skills and professional connections to step directly into the fast-growing space industry — and start contributing immediately.

1980s | Developing the Foundation of Space Medicine

1985: As rockets soared off Florida’s Space Coast for NASA’s Space Shuttle Program, 91�Թ��� students were already exploring spaceflight’s impact on people. A group of 91�Թ��� health sciences graduate students, including respiratory health alum Charles Gutierrez ’82 ’85MS, conducted experiments in labs on campus and on a field used as a makeshift launch site to understand how rockets impact heart and lung health. The research, published in The Physiologist, reflects 91�Թ���’s spirit of turning curiosity into action.

Today: Reaching farther into space requires an understanding of how humans will live, work and stay healthy there. As the closest medical school to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, 91�Թ��� established the Led by Emmanuel Urquieta, vice chair of aerospace medicine and associate professor of medicine, the center brings together 91�Թ��� experts across disciplines to lead research and develop technologies that will help humans prepare for longer missions to the moon, Mars and beyond. Urquieta also leads .

1990s | Creating a Place for Space

1990: 91�Թ��� establishes the Space Education and Research Center, which later becomes the . The institute is a hub for space research, education and technology development connected to Florida’s space industry.

Today: FSI research ranges from studying the Earth’s upper atmosphere to the origin of the planets to propulsion technologies for aerospace vehicles. Through research, operations oversight and educational programs, the institute continues to position Florida as a global leader in the space industry and contributes to the state’s economic development.

Among its facilities is the , home to the world’s largest simulated lunar surface. Filled with 240,000 pounds of simulated lunar soil, the lab’s Lunar Highland Regolith Test Bin lets researchers, students and space organizations test how rovers, tools and other technologies perform on a moonlike surface.

1996: Robinson Observatory opens on 91�Թ���’s main campus, providing students and faculty a place to study planetary systems, asteroids and more. By 2004, it housed what the Orlando Sentinel described as the largest telescope in the Southeast open to the public.

Today: 91�Թ��� researchers use observations from some of the world’s most powerful telescopes, including NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii, to investigate comets, asteroids, and the origins and evolution of our solar system.

2000s | Entering the Space Renaissance

2009: Engineering alum Nicole Stott ’92MS launches aboard Space Shuttle Discovery, becoming the first 91�Թ��� graduate to fly aboard a NASA shuttle and live on the International Space Station.

Today: 91�Թ��� is preparing students not only to travel to space, but also to build the industries, policies and experiences surrounding it.

Through the Barry S. Miller College of Business, students can earn the nation’s first fully online MBA in space commercialization. A Space Policy and Management course in the College of Community Innovation and Education examines the decisions and administrative mechanisms that help power the space industry. Students can help imagine the future of dining and hospitality in spaceports, shuttles and orbital hotels at the , a global leader in hospitality and tourism education.

2010s | Return to Liftoff

2017: Invigorated by a new uniform line and excitement around the hiring of Scott Frost as head coach in 2016, 91�Թ��� Athletics decides to debut the Space Game — an idea conceptualized three years prior by 91�Թ��� Athletics’ brand experience department.

“It’s a unique part of the 91�Թ��� story that it was too good of an opportunity not to use the athletics platform to amplify,” Jimmy Skiles ’06 said in a 2022 article about the origin of the Space Game.

Today: The annual Space Game — which has crossed over into 91�Թ���’s other sports — has grown into a spectacular, fan favorite event that promotes our talented people, the revolutionary work done here and has laid the groundwork for what has become 91�Թ��� Space Week.

2019: 91�Թ��� sends five research projects into space with SpaceX, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic flights after launch activity resumes in full force following the conclusion of the Space Shuttle program in 2011.

Today: 91�Թ��� has worked with NASA on almost 600 projects since the 1990s, including the Lunar-VISE mission led by Associate Professor Kerri Donaldson Hanna and Department of Physics Chair Adrienne Dove. The $35 million project will land a spacecraft on a part of the moon never visited before: the Gruithuisen Domes.

2020s and Beyond

The next era of space exploration is already taking shape — and 91�Թ��� is helping lead it.

NASA is targeting 2028 for the first crewed Artemis lunar landing. At the same time, commercial launches are accelerating — with the White House aiming to enable over 1,000 launches and reentries on American soil annually by 2030 — new markets are emerging, and the demand for space-ready talent and technology continues to grow. Our future on Earth will be shaped by our future advancements in space, and 91�Թ��� will be an influential driver of that progress.

As the next phase of space exploration, launched in October 2024 as a first-of-its-kind partnership with the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research, providing a centralized, physical space to advance hypersonic technology.

In May 2027, Knights from Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics aim to launch a rocket from sea through a partnership with Seagate. The ambitious effort aims to be to first sea-based launch by university students in the nation — an example of how we continue to forge a path forward for space exploration.

91�Թ��� is also helping connect Florida’s universities, NASA and industry through the Florida University Space Research Consortium. The partnership creates new paths for shared space research, technology development and workforce preparation tied to Kennedy Space Center — strengthening Florida’s ability to lead the United States’ future space efforts.

Six decades in, 91�Թ���’s space legacy is still being written — in classrooms, labs and places we are determined to reach.

Researchers convening at 91�Թ��� underscores the university’s national role as America’s Space University and its growing influence in hypersonic science, aerospace innovation, and defense research.

“Bringing this national team to 91�Թ��� is a tremendous step forward,” says Trustee Chair Professor Kareem Ahmed, director of the 91�Թ��� HyperSpace Research Center. “This program will advance our understanding of the fundamental science behind hypersonic material interactions, driving breakthroughs in advanced materials, propulsion systems, and next-generation vehicle technologies.”

The five-year MURI will develop new methods that combine laboratory experiments, operando testing, and atomistic simulations using advanced deep-generative algorithms. These techniques can disentangle multiple drivers of observed behavior, handle noisy measurements, and overcome nonlinear and chaotic relationships between what scientists can measure and what they need to infer. The goal: integrate diverse datasets and pinpoint which inputs matter most.

“Known for boldly advancing critical hypersonic technologies, 91�Թ���’s world-class faculty are well-positioned to join their colleagues at other leading research universities to strengthen our nation’s capabilities in this area of significant national interest,” says 91�Թ��� Vice President for Research and Innovation Winston Schoenfeld. “Fitting for the nation’s top provider of graduates to the aerospace and defense industries, this partnership also will provide invaluable hands-on experiences for dozens of student researchers at the ���������貹���������Գٱ��, ensuring a highly trained workforce.”

The initiative is expected to influence future U.S. Department of Defense hypersonic systems.

The initiative is expected to influence future U.S. Department of Defense hypersonic systems — from vehicles and weapons to propulsion technologies — by improving material models, enhancing reliability assessments, and providing a framework that can be replicated across other advanced materials programs.

The team includes leading experts in probabilistic inference (Assad Oberai, University of Southern California; Romit Maulik, Purdue University); hypersonic flight experiments and simulation (Kareem Ahmed, 91�Թ���; Savio Poovathingal, University of Kentucky; Onkar Sahni, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute); and micro-scale solid–gas interface physics (Aiichiro Nakano, University of Southern California).

In addition, the program will train the next generation of researchers through hands-on work with four postdoctoral scholars, 10 graduate students and 10 undergraduate students in areas such as scientific machine learning, high-speed flows, computational physics, and materials science.

This MURI marks a major step forward in advancing the science behind hypersonic systems and will help pave the way for safer, more reliable, and more capable technologies for national defense.