E-Mail IMAGE: The new sensing paradigm can tell where on a vehicle most of the pressure is going during flight testing. view more Credit: Cockrell School of Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin. NASA and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research are backing a team of four universities, led by The University of Texas at Austin, in a project to re-define sensing and analysis of hypersonic vehicles, which can travel at least five times the speed of sound and potentially revolutionize space and air travel. The three-year, $3.3 million project is funded by NASA's University Leadership Initiative, and the team's goal is to create a new paradigm in sensing for hypersonic vehicles, which could also be applied to lower-speed craft. The project -- Full Airframe Sensing Technology (FAST) -- will treat the vehicles themselves as sensors, analyzing aerodynamic changes during flight tests, and use that information to infer where force is being applied so they can better protect and control the vehicles.