Featured Innovators

Dr. Isaiah Blankson

Dr. Isaiah Blankson Senior Technologist at NASA Glenn Research Center

MHD engine.

Passive Millimeter Wave Imager.

High-Speed Flyer

As one of our senior technologists, Dr. Isaiah Blankson, has a distinguished record of expertise in hypersonic and supersonic aerodynamics, air-breathing hypersonic propulsion, and electromagnetic suspension systems for aerospace applications.  He has devoted his NASA career to advancing technologies for high-speed flight and has recently applied his expertise to the area of millimeter wave imaging.

As Deputy Director of the Hypersonic Research Division at NASA Headquarters, he directed the development of integrated, long-range research plans for the National Aerospace Plane and hypersonic flight guidance and control systems.  He was the technical focus for NASA hypersonic research and coordinated the Agency’s Hypersonic Research Plan with the Department of Defense and the aerospace community which included many of his innovative concepts and strategies.  He conceived the use of the Pegasus launch vehicle as a hypersonic test bed for low-cost flight experiments in the hypersonic flight regime.  For a long time, this was the only flight research activity in NASA’s hypersonic airbreathing propulsion program.  With researchers from other organizations as collaborators, he conceived and developed the LoFLYTE experiment that was used to obtain low-speed aerodynamic characteristics of a wave-rider hypersonic vehicle.

Dr. Blankson has made significant contributions to novel concepts for propulsion.  He is the codeveloper of the revolutionary exoskeletal engine concept (U.S. patent 6,393,831-B1) that represents a paradigm shift in aircraft engine design.  Structural design, allowed by exoskeletal engines, make possible the use of high-temperature materials that are beneficial for hypersonic propulsion systems.  He was also among the first to recognize the potential of using weakly ionized gases to improve the performance of high-speed aircraft by reducing drag and potential sonic boom alleviation.

In collaboration with Dr. Steven Schneider, they were issued U.S. patent 6,696,774-B1, entitled "Magnetohydrodyamic Power Extraction and Flow Conditioning in a Gas Flow Turbine." This invention provides a system for conditioning flow in a gas turbine engine for achieving power extraction to increase relative velocity and efficiency of the engine.  A series of superconducting magnets create a high magnetic field operative the inlet. Locally ionized regions form in a helix within the annular flow path. Electrical power is generated across this inlet which can be reintroduced into the energy system in a variety of ways, for example by the softening of shock waves to reduce drag and/or magnetohydrodynamic flow acceleration downstream of the gas flow turbine.

In the area of aviation safety, he helped develop a high performance opto-mechanically scanned passive millimeter-wave (PMMW) imager with super resolution intended to monitor the ground movement of aircraft.  This imaging technology can generate images through fog and other adverse weather conditions.  Dr. Blankson obtained a grant for Johnson Smith University as a partner to work in this new area of aviation safety.

Isaiah was recently honored with the Career Achievement in Government Award at the Black Engineer of the Year Awards Conference on February 19, 2005 in Baltimore, MD.